Over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, sellers using Block’s ecosystem of commerce tools broke records with 144 million Block consumer transactions globally, a 17% increase from last year.* With over 1 in 3 shoppers more stressed about holiday shopping this year compared to last, customers all around the world turned out in droves for the mega discounting weekend to save on gifts, shopping both online and in-store and driving increased sales on these channels by 21% and 17%, respectively. View the detailed look at Block’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday 2024 results here.
Global Black Friday, Cyber Monday highlights:
- 3:10 am EST on Sunday, December 1 was the peak minute of shopping across the globe. In 2023, this was Saturday, November 25 at 2:17 p.m. EST.
- Fastest growing cities in total spend included College Station, Texas (USA), Woodbridge, Ontario (Canada), Duluth, Georgia (USA), Montréal, Quebec (Canada), and Fort Collins, CO (USA).
- Saturday, November 30 was the most popular shopping day of the entire weekend.
- Shoppers are doubling down on digital channels with online cart sizes 2X larger than in-person carts.
- Gift givers who aimed for the least stressful holiday shopping experience leaned on gift cards, making up 450K purchased this year, a 29% year over year growth. The most popular categories for gift card purchases were food and beverage, retail, leisure and entertainment, and beauty and wellness.
The average promotion offered to consumers over the notoriously discount laden weekend was 19% at Square sellers, with online and in-store discounts averaging 20% and 19%, respectively. To better reach sellers across channels, 12% more businesses tapped into an omnichannel sales strategy.
Square has also found that the holiday season goes beyond retail as shoppers dined out at local restaurants during the major weekend. Restaurant transactions were up 12%, while sellers aimed to attract customers through Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts, with a 28% growth in discounts redeemed this past weekend.
Mindful shoppers looked to alternatives to expensive credit cards, with Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) transactions through Afterpay increasing 10% year over year. Millennials continue to drive Afterpay usage at 44%, followed by Gen Z at 26% and Gen X at 24%. Beyond fashion and beauty, the largest Afterpay item categories were personal care, household supplies, health care, gift cards, and office supplies as consumers look to shop and pay flexibly on an array of gifting items.
American consumers are also turning to Cash App Card this holiday season to pay for gifts, with 24 million monthly actives using the debit card as of September 2024. Since last Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, top transactions made through the debit card included retail items, up 19%, and gaming purchases, up 46%. Purchases made through social media, another popular shopping channel among young consumers, grew 139%, outpacing big box and department store spending growth by 4X.
“The Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend remains a critical part of the holiday sales season, but shopping habits are evolving. Today’s customers want optionality, whether it’s gifting tangible items or experiences, shopping in-person or online, or how they choose to pay. Across Block brands, we’re uniquely positioned to ensure sellers have access to world-class commerce solutions that adapt to today’s customer needs. And, to offer customers more choice and flexibility through various payment options. We’re expanding access to the economy and empowering both sides of the counter,” said Nick Molnar, Block Head of Sales.
Methodology:
All data presented are unaudited and subject to adjustment.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Square, Afterpay, and Cash App Card** analyzed millions of transactions across all seller industries globally in 2024 from November 29, 11:00 UTC to December 2, 23:59 UTC. All monetary metrics are displayed in USD. Countries include the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France, Ireland, Spain, and New Zealand.
*Block Consumer Spend Transactions is a metric Block’s Marketing Team uses to measure consumer spending across different businesses during busy periods such as Black Friday Cyber Monday. Block Consumer Spend Transactions includes all posted and pending credit card, debit card, and cash transactions at Square sellers, Cash App Card transactions, and Afterpay transactions. Block Consumer Spend Transactions does not represent Square GPV or overall Block GPV.
About Square
Square makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible with its integrated ecosystem of solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services and banking products, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. For more information, visit www.squareup.com.
About Afterpay
Afterpay is transforming the way we pay by allowing eligible shoppers to buy products immediately and pay over time – enabling simple, transparent and responsible spending. We are on a mission to power an economy in which everyone wins. Afterpay is offered by thousands of the world’s favorite retailers and used by millions of active global customers. Afterpay is currently available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom, where it is known as Clearpay. Afterpay is a wholly owned subsidiary of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ).
About Cash App
Cash App is the money app. It’s the easy way to spend, send, and store money. Sending and receiving money is fast, and most payments can be deposited directly to an external bank account in just a few seconds. With Cash App, customers can also buy and sell Bitcoin instantly, get a paycheck deposited right to the app, create a unique $cashtag to share with anyone to get paid fast, and use the Cash App Card to spend the money everywhere Visa Debit is accepted. Download Cash App for free at cash.app/download.
**Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s external bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Visa is a registered trademark of Visa International Service Association. All other trademarks and service marks belong to their respective owners.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241203217041/en/