Denmark: Black Week underperforms somewhat but spending is holding up well despite rising infections

Danish card and MobilePay data is somewhat muddled this week by both the timing of Black Friday and of payday. Overall, spending continues to perform well, with no clear signs that higher infection rates are driving a shift in spending.
Black week underperformed recent years somewhat. Compared to 2020 spending was down 5% and only rose 1.7% compared to 2019. It is, however, worth noting that last year saw a boost from the payout of holiday allowances in October, an in 2019 Black Friday fell on a payday, which tends to lift spending.
Compared to 2019 spending online in retailing was up by 25%, while spending in physical stores fell 6.6% for the whole week. Overall, we are seeing a clear tendency for spending being spread out across the week leading up to Black Friday, rather than being concentrated on the Friday it self.
Note that spending in Electronic stores outperformed both 2019 and 2020. This indicates that spending continues to hold up well despite concerns of supply issues. However, this could be due to price effects, and people moving up their holiday shopping.
Restaurant spending has weakened slightly in the past two weeks, but we are far from a stark decline as a result of rising infections and new restrictions. Spending is still above 2019 level.
Travel spending took another tumble last week, as new restrictions and fears of the Omicron variant makes long term planning difficult.

Danske Research Team Danske Bank A/S

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Danske Research Team

Danske Bank A/S

Research is part of Danske Bank Markets and operate as Danske Bank's research department. The department monitors financial markets and economic trends of relevance to Danske Bank Markets and its clients.

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