Black Friday to Become Darkest Yet for Businesses That Don’t Satisfy Consumer Payment Needs

This year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday spend is projected to reach £3.8 billion in the UK, marking a 27% increase from the £3 billion planned in 2023, according to Finder. These sales events are pivotal moments in every merchant’s calendar, with the potential to make or break their end of year sales targets.  

However, consumers are demanding more flexible options at checkout. Over half (54%) of British consumers choose online payment services such as PayPal, Google Pay and Klarna for online transactions, according to Statista (October 2024). With that in mind, it is time for consumers to take their checkout pages seriously and ensure they are meeting consumer expectations or risk having their darkest Black Friday yet.  

Eelco Dettingmeijer, Chief Commercial Officer at PPRO said “British consumers are holding out until Black Friday to make their online purchases, with data from Opinium showing that a third of shoppers have saved items in their online basket ahead of Black Friday. We urge merchants to take a fresh look at their checkout pages this year. With upcoming increased tax implications affecting retail businesses, following this year’s budget announcement, every online sale really does help. To make sure this Black Friday is your brightest yet, you need to consider optimising your checkout page to lower cart abandonment and increase your chances at completing record sales numbers this year.” 

Here are three payment preferences merchants should consider for their online checkout this Black Friday…  

Digital wallets on the rise 

Digital wallets are fast gaining share of UK retail spending both online and in-store. More than half (53%) of UK consumers have recently purchased products online using PayPal, and 30% have used Apple Pay, according to the EMarketer and Toluna Ecommerce and Media survey (Feb 2024). Merchants not offering a range of digital wallets at checkout could lose a substantial portion of Black Friday shoppers this year.  

Account to Account (A2A) payments 

Having gained global traction in recent years, A2A payment spend in the UK in 2024 has been over £79 billion ($102bn), according to Juniper  Research. Despite A2A payments traditionally being used as a way to transfer money from one bank account to another, we’re seeing them increasingly used in online checkout experiences to boost success rates at checkout. Merchants need to consider A2A payments to optimise their checkout pages this Black Friday.  

Cross-border payment options 

Cross-border transactions account for 12% of the UK’s total e-commerce, according to Analyzify. As an online merchant in the UK, understanding where your shoppers are based is key to getting the most out of Black Friday this year. And taking into account the local payment method preferences of your top markets will help reach more shoppers.