The Dutch did a lot of shopping in Sinterklaas before 5 December. Last Saturday was the busiest day at the box office in the past week.
The number of payment card payments wasn’t nearly as great as the Saturday after Black Friday. Buyers may still want to take advantage of offers around the bargain festival.
On Saturday, buyers in Dutch stores paid 20.3 million times with a debit or credit card for a total amount of just over 577 million euros. A week ago, the amount was higher. This relates to a payment of €21.4m worth €635m. Many retailers still lure customers in with Black Friday-related discounts.
The Dutch Payments Association released card payments figures and notes that many shoppers did not wait until the last minute to make purchases last week. For example, there were 15 percent more payments with debit and credit cards at the counter on a Thursday than on a regular Thursday. The difference between Saturday, December 3, and a regular Saturday was much less, at 5 percent.
According to the federation, it is difficult to measure whether the Dutch national team’s match on Saturday had an impact on purchasing behavior. Hourly payment numbers are not tracked. However, it was busiest at the cash register at 2.15pm. The Netherlands vs USA match started at 4:00pm.
Online, the recent Black Friday (November 25) remains the busiest day of the year in terms of payments.
