Black Friday in the EU lasts a month. Plan for all of it.
Two years of orders from the same online stores in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, and from stores in Southeast Asia. When shoppers start, when they buy and what to send.
- The same EU stores in 2024 and 2025, a statistically significant sample
- October to December, by day and by hour
- Indexes and shares, no store named
The short version
Median store among the EU stores that sold every day in both years. Orders as recorded on each store's site. Not a controlled test.
Black Friday is a season. Orders rise from the first week of November. In the two weeks before Black Friday week they ran 45% (2024) and 29% (2025) above October.
The day still peaks. Black Friday brought 70% more orders than an average October day in 2024, and 55% more in 2025.
Bulgaria spread it across the week. In 2025 the day was a little lower (+57% vs +63%) and the whole week higher (+42% vs +34%).
Shoppers decide early. In 2025, 29% of Black Friday week buyers first viewed a product a week or more before they bought, and 20% three weeks or more.
Southeast Asia buys in spikes. 9.9 and 12.12 brought 8 to 10 times an average October day. Black Friday brought about twice.
Black Friday week brings about a third of the season's extra orders.
Orders per day at the median store, against an average October day (= 100). The colored area is everything the season added on top of October. Black Friday week is only part of it.
See the numbers behind this chart
Median store among the same EU stores as the rest of this report, orders as recorded on each store's site. 2024 is shifted by 364 days, so weekdays and Black Friday line up. Extra orders = the daily index above 100, added up. Not a controlled test.
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When the season starts and how long it lasts
At the median store, orders start to rise in the first week of November. 11.11 adds a first bump: 43% above an average October day in 2024 and 17% in 2025.
From mid-November, orders stay well above October. Black Friday week, from the Monday before to the day after Cyber Monday, ran 45% above October in 2024 and 28% in 2025.
After Cyber Monday the gift season holds. From 8 to 19 December orders stayed 10% to 15% above October in both years. On 24 December they fell to just over half an average October day.
So plan for six weeks, not one day: from the first week of November to about 19 December.
| Orders vs an average October day (= 100) | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| 11.11 | 143 | 117 |
| Two weeks before Black Friday week | 145 | 129 |
| Black Friday week (8 days) | 145 | 128 |
| Black Friday | 170 | 155 |
| 8 to 19 December | 114 | 116 |
| 24 December | 58 | 55 |
Median of the EU stores that sold every day in both years.
Black Friday, hour by hour
Black Friday is a daytime event. Orders peak from 10:00 to noon and stay high through the afternoon.
Few people buy at midnight: only 7% to 8% of the day's orders came before 08:00.
The evening matters. About a third of the day's orders came after 18:00, and in Greece 36% to 40%.
Send your first message by 09:00 and a second in the early evening.
Buyers decide before the day
Many Black Friday buyers already know the store. In both years, 13% to 14% of Black Friday week buyers had already ordered from the same store earlier in October or November.
Many also look early. In 2025, 29% of Black Friday week buyers first viewed a product a week or more before their purchase, and 20% three weeks or more. 15% to 17% first added something to their cart a week or more before.
The people who buy on the day are on your site in early November. Ask for their email or push permission then, and follow up the products they looked at.
More visits, not better conversion
In 2024, Black Friday week converted much better than October: 6.1 orders per 1,000 page views, against 4.2.
In 2025 the gap almost closed: 5.4 against 5.0. The extra orders came mostly from extra visits.
Expect more traffic, and plan how each visit turns into an order: the product it came for, in stock, one click away.
Messages: the same volume, more clicks
Stores did not flood inboxes. Email volume in Black Friday week was 17% above October in both years.
The emails sent on Black Friday got more clicks: 4.2 per 100 delivered in 2025, against 1.5 in October. In 2024 it was 2.4 against 2.0.
Unsubscribes stayed near their October level, about 1 to 1.5 per 1,000 emails delivered.
Web push did the same in 2025: 3.4 clicks per 100 delivered on Black Friday, against 1.5 in October.
| Median store | October 2024 | Black Friday 2024 | October 2025 | Black Friday 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email clicks per 100 delivered | 2.0 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 4.2 |
| Email orders per 1,000 delivered | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| Unsubscribes per 1,000 delivered | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.1 |
| Web push clicks per 100 delivered | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 3.4 |
Only stores that send the channel with Releva are counted. An order counts for a message when it includes an item from it (last touch, not a controlled test).
On the site, shoppers arrive knowing what they want
On Black Friday a smaller share of orders included an item found through the store's search, recommendations or banners: 9% against 14% in October 2024, and 8% against 13% in 2025.
Shoppers come to buy what they already chose. They find it in the weeks before, in search and recommendations.
Clicks on recommendations held at about 10 per 100 shown in 2025, on Black Friday as in October.
Bulgaria: the week grew, the day held
Stores that sold every day in both years. Orders vs an average October day.
| Bulgaria | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Black Friday | +63% | +57% |
| Black Friday week | +34% | +42% |
| 11.11 | +35% | +17% |
| 8 to 19 December | +7% | +14% |
| Orders per 1,000 page views, October → Black Friday week | 4.1 → 5.4 | 4.1 → 4.4 |
| Black Friday orders after 18:00 | 31% | 30% |
In 2025 Bulgarian shoppers spread Black Friday across the week, and 11.11 mattered less.
Romania: 11.11 and December rival Black Friday
Stores that sold every day in both years. Orders vs an average October day.
| Romania | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Black Friday | +70% | +29% |
| Black Friday week | +55% | −2% |
| 11.11 | +59% | +34% |
| 8 to 19 December | +62% | +25% |
| Orders per 1,000 page views, October → Black Friday week | 11.6 → 8.3 | 6.8 → 6.3 |
| Black Friday orders after 18:00 | 30% | 28% |
In both years Black Friday week brought more visits but fewer orders per visit. In 2025 the week sold slightly below October.
Greece: the biggest day, bought in the evening
Stores that sold every day in both years. Orders vs an average October day.
| Greece | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Black Friday | +106% | +59% |
| Black Friday week | +56% | +25% |
| 11.11 | +52% | +8% |
| 8 to 19 December | +18% | +12% |
| Orders per 1,000 page views, October → Black Friday week | 6.7 → 7.9 | 7.0 → 8.0 |
| Black Friday orders after 18:00 | 36% | 40% |
Greek shoppers bought late: in 2025 the peak hour on Black Friday was 21:00.
Asia: a calendar of spikes
In Asia the biggest days of the year are the double dates and each brand's own sale days. In 2025, 9.9 brought about 10 times an average October day and 12.12 about 8 times. A brand's own sale day in late November reached about 16 times.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday brought about twice an average October day. Demand also stayed up longer: November averaged twice October, and the second half of December about 1.5 times.
In 2024 Black Friday did not register: orders on the day were below an average October day, and the biggest days were brands' own sales in late October.
Plan the year around 9.9, 11.11, 12.12 and your own sale dates. Treat Black Friday as one more good day.
| Orders vs an average October day, Asia 2025 | Multiple |
|---|---|
| 9.9 | about 10x |
| 10.10 | 2.3x |
| 11.11 | 1.6x |
| Black Friday | 1.9x |
| Cyber Monday | 1.9x |
| 12.12 | about 8x |
Days in Kuala Lumpur time.
A plan for the six weeks
Now to mid-October: grow who you can reach
Buyers look early. Ask for email and push permission on product pages and at checkout before prices move.
From 2 November: the season starts
Orders rise from the first week of November. Show returning visitors what they viewed, and use 11.11 as a warm-up.
16 to 26 November: follow up what they viewed
Almost a third of Black Friday week buyers looked a week or more before. Remind them of the products and carts they left.
27 November: send by 09:00, again at 18:00
Orders peak from 10:00 to noon, and a third come after 18:00. In Greece the evening is the peak.
30 November to 19 December: keep going
Cyber Monday and the gift weeks stay 10% to 15% above October. Orders drop from about 20 December.
How we measured
Stores. EU: online stores in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Croatia and Serbia that use Releva and sold every day in both years. Asia: online stores in Southeast Asia that use Releva. Each sample is statistically significant.
Period. October to December 2024 and 2025. Black Friday was 29 November 2024 and 28 November 2025. Black Friday week runs from the Monday before Black Friday to the day after Cyber Monday.
Index. Each store's orders on a day, divided by its average day in the four weeks from eight weeks before Black Friday (4 to 31 October 2024, 3 to 30 October 2025). We show the median store, so one large store can't move the result.
Counting. Orders and page views as recorded by Releva on each store's site. Message and on-site figures count an order when it includes an item from that message or feature (last touch). None of this is a controlled test.
Timing. Local time: Sofia for the EU stores, Kuala Lumpur for Southeast Asia. Buyer timing looks back to 1 October, so the shares who looked a week or more before are a floor. Product views are available for 2025 only.
Privacy. We show indexes and shares, never store revenue, and no store is named.
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Thirty minutes with your own store's data: when last year's Black Friday buyers first came, and what to send them this year.
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