And yes, you are also right. But - if last year goes anything like this year, the coming weekend will bring the last peak before it gets relatively quiet. And now a bit of data instead of just lurid clickbait presentation: We have compared the data of our network from last year with this year. The Monday before Black Friday is our respective zero point.

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What you can see very nicely in the process:

• Last year, the November week of Black Friday was already stronger overall than the following December weeks. So far this year, this trend has become even stronger, so much so that even without Black Friday, this November week is stronger than the following December weeks. This is certainly due to the fact that many shops have now turned Black Friday into an entire Black Week.
• Cyber Monday didn't stand out hugely for us this year, but the drop in the following week was significant.
• In the 00s and at the beginning of the 10s, the 3rd Sunday of Advent + the following Monday was always the strongest day in the Christmas business. Not any more.

Now to the weaknesses of the statistics:

• Our network has of course changed over the last 12 months - it's quite possible that we now have more partners without a distinct Christmas seasonality, which influences the data accordingly.
• We have only bluntly extrapolated the data from 8.12. without taking into account any special features.
• No post without COVID: Last year we had full lockdown in Germany from 16.12., before that lockdown light (I could hardly remember it then, it was so light). This year, we only have 2G nationwide when shopping from now on, but usually without much m2 restriction. In the shopping-relevant population, however, the vaccination rate is very high (no children, few young people), so the question is whether we will see a proportionate increase in shopping numbers again after 16.12.
• This year Christmas is on Friday evening or Saturday, which means that there is one day more for the delivery of orders (in relation to the last weekend). This could mean that the 4th Advent weekend + Monday could also be significantly busier than last year.
  

What do you think? Where is the journey going? Have we already passed the maximum peak? Do we still have two strong weekends or just one? Will 13 December make a comeback and perhaps become the second-strongest sales day after Black Friday? Or are you seeing completely different figures?
We look forward to your comments!