More insights
Co-founder Briqpay
November 4, 2026 at 08:00 AM
This is the first post in a weekly series ahead of Black Friday 2026. Each week we will take one part of the peak season: the calendar, what last year's data says, and what the payment side of the checkout has to carry. This week is the month as a whole.
In Sweden the peak is no longer one day. Black Friday sits inside Black Week, which runs from Monday 23 November to Sunday 29 November this year, and the whole month is marketed as Black Month. Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November, and Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November, just outside Black Week but inside Black Month.
Last year's figures show why the month matters more than the day. According to statistics from Svea Bank, based on comparable e-retailers and reported by Ehandel.se at the end of November 2025, turnover for Black Month rose about 3.5% on the year before. Transactions fell about 4.9% and average order value rose about 8.8%. Black Friday on its own told a sharper version of the same story. Turnover fell about 3.4%, transactions fell about 17%, and average order value rose about 16%.
So there were fewer orders, and each one was bigger. For a checkout, that means the risk is less about traffic and more about the shape of the payments: a short spike of large baskets on Friday, and a longer tail of smaller orders around it.
Our Black Friday 2025 checkout data for consumer (B2C) checkouts shows the same shape from the other side. Black Friday ran at about nine times a normal autumn day, the Sunday after at about seven times, and Cyber Monday at about five times. The Sunday was busier than Cyber Monday, and most plans do not staff for it. We went through every day of the weekend in the Black Friday weekend post.
The new Swedish consumer credit act, Konsumentkreditlagen (2026:1011), enters into force on 20 November 2026, one week before Black Friday. The law itself sets that date, and credit agreements made before it stay under the old rules. That means the whole of Black Week, and the first full weekend of the sale, is the first peak run under the new act. You can read the text in the official Swedish law record.
The size of the effect depends on how much of your checkout runs on credit. In January to September 2026, buy now pay later and invoice carried about 53% of completed Briqpay consumer checkouts in Sweden. Last year's peak weekend carried a similar share, so the rules are part of the sales plan rather than a compliance side task.
Three things are worth settling before the sale starts. First, get written confirmation from every credit provider in your checkout that its assessment and information flow will meet the new rules from 20 November, rather than relying on a status call. Second, decide what a declined shopper sees. More applications may be assessed under the new act during the sale, and a clear fallback to another payment method protects the order. Third, watch approval rates from the first day of the new rules. A drop in approvals on Black Friday can look like a conversion problem, when it is really a rules problem, and the two need different fixes.
For the full legal picture see the ultimate guide to CCD2 and our country-by-country update.
The Swedish trade body HUI presents its Christmas trade report, Julhandelsrapporten 2026, on Friday 6 November. It includes a forecast for December sales and an analysis of Black Week, so it is the first external reading for the season. We will come back to it in next week's post, alongside whatever Svensk Handel publishes on Black Week.
Next week we look at the Black Week calendar day by day, and what to change in the payment setup before the first sale day.
Methodology note: Black Month and Black Friday turnover, transaction and average order value figures are from Svea Bank statistics on comparable e-retailers, as reported by Ehandel.se on 29 November 2025. They are year-on-year changes, not absolute totals. Briqpay figures are completed consumer (B2C) checkouts. Dates for Black Week, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are from the retail calendar published by Mobilmarket. Legislative dates are from the Swedish law record. This is not legal advice, and we do not name individual providers.
Five weeks before CCD2 applies, five EU markets have a law and a date. The Netherlands does not. Where each country stands, how much credit each checkout carries, and what to check this week.
Black Friday was the biggest day, but the Sunday after was busier than Cyber Monday, and average basket value fell sharply by the Tuesday. Day-by-day checkout data from last year's peak and what to plan for.
On Black Friday 2025, Swedish and Dutch shoppers moved six points toward pay later, Germans moved to wallets and the British stayed with cards. Our consumer checkout data, market by market, and what to put first in each checkout this year.
Connect any payment provider. Optimize your payment flow. Scale without limitations - with Briqpay’s Payment Integration Platform.
