Beyond the Sales: What Black Friday & Cyber Monday Reveal About the Modern Payments Ecosystem

Throughout Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we gain a glimpse into consumer behaviour and the resilience of global payment systems. While consumers focus on purchases and retailers focus on fulfilment, the payments ecosystem undergoes one of the most intense stress tests of the year, one that has come to define a large amount of modern commerce, both online and physical. 

What the data shows 

In 2024, Black Friday saw an estimated $74.4 billion of online spending worldwide, with Cyber Monday not far behind at around $49.7 billion. This helped to drive a 43% year-on-yearincrease in online sales across the long weekend, a figure that further highlights the continued popularity of retail-driven calendar events, accelerated by mobile commerce and frictionless checkout experiences. 

The changing role of retail event days 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are no longer singular events, they’re the first defining peaks of the holiday shopping season. The two days at the tail end of November and start of December has now spread into the month of October as a whole. The concept of a 'Black Friday' period has emerged with several larger retailers that are aiming to entice shoppers to spend more over a longer, more drawn-out period of sales. 

The impact on the payments ecosystem 

This longer period of activity isn't without consequences. It means that payment system infrastructure cannot prepare for just a one or two peak days, it must be able to support increased transaction volumes consistently from October all the way through to Christmas and new year. While the year-end has always been a time when transaction numbers increase significantly, the operational complexity behind supporting additional authorisations is significant. Even a relatively small percentage increase can translate into millions more transactions needing to be processed. 

What Black Friday and Cyber Monday reveal about payment systems 

Scalability is foundational 

Payment engines are required to process large transaction spikes within milliseconds. Any amount of latency or outage time can result in declined authorisations, cart abandonment and likely, customer dissatisfaction. Scalable, cloud-first architectures and real-time decisioning are increasingly important. 

Redundancy and reliability matter even more 

High-volume events can expose weaknesses in systems would normally not have an effect. Redundant routing, active-active infrastructures and real-time failover mechanisms can ensure payment continuity even under strain. 

Diverse payment options influence sales conversion 

Consumers increasingly expect payment options to include features like XPay wallets, Click to Pay and By Now Pay Later. The more seamlessly these methods integrate, the higher the likelihood of successful checkout. 

Fraud risk increases with payment volume 

Peak shopping periods are attractive to fraudsters as well as legitimate shoppers. Increased transaction velocity, first-time buyers and checkout with additional time pressure, create greater demands on fraud-detection systems. The challenge is balancing strong customer protection while ensuring minimal friction is present in the overall shopping experience. 

Why both days remain valuable learning moments 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday continue to play a pivotal role in the global retail ecosystem. For retailers, they provide a major opportunity to tap into heightened consumer demand, boost sales and participate in an economic surge that spans markets and channels. These events also showcase the many ways customers now choose to pay, whether through cards (physical and digital) or buy now, pay later options, highlighting the importance of frictionless checkout experiences. 

For issuers, the value is equally significant. The concentrated volume and diversity of transactions offer an unparalleled window into customer spending habits, product preferencesand emerging behaviours. Analysing these patterns enables issuers to refine their products, strengthen customer engagement and better anticipate future needs. 

Together, these days serve as powerful learning moments, illuminating the dynamics of modern commerce and the changing expectations placed on payment systems worldwide.