Black Friday represents a pivotal moment for high-risk, high-revenue businesses worldwide. Don’t be fooled: in the past decade Black Friday has become a global phenomenon. The surge in consumer activity offers unparalleled opportunities for revenue growth but also brings significant challenges. Payment service providers play a critical role in this dynamic, acting as both a potential bottleneck and a catalyst for success.
This article explores the intricate relationship between Black Friday sales and payment services, highlighting how the right payment infrastructure can transform potential disasters into competitive advantages for high-risk enterprises worldwide.
We won’t fail to mention actionable tips that you and your customers can use to ensure a smooth transaction flow that will leave all stakeholders happy.
Black Friday triggers a massive spike in consumer spending. For high-revenue businesses, this means handling transaction volumes that are exponentially higher than average. According to the website statistics.blackfriday, with data taken from and verified by Statista, many major EU countries (i.e. France, Spain, Italy) had an average spending of over 200 euros per shopper during Black Friday.
To show that this weekend of spending has overflown the borders of the US and spread like wildfire worldwide, whop.com found out that US consumers are only 8th on the list for Black Friday purchasing intent; The UAE, Italy, Australia, Spain, Canada, Singapore, and France top the list (source: Whop, 100+ Black Friday Statistics for 2024.) .
A study commissioned by Finder, highlights that in 2024 “Brits plan to spend an estimated £3.8 billion in the 2024 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales” (source: Finder, Black Friday in the UK: Statistics for 2024.), showing that the rise in spending is not limited to the US. Moreover, the same survey reveals that 3 in 5 British adults will spend money between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with a whopping 86% of Gen Z planning to spend money.
These staggering figures highlight the immense pressure on payment systems to perform flawlessly during this critical period.
The high stakes of Black Friday are compounded by the potential for payment system outages. Past incidents have shown how detrimental such outages can be for both consumers and businesses.
In December 2023, Apple Pay, Apple Card, and Apple Cash services experienced an outage that affected online and in-app transactions for nearly five hours (source: Andrew Heinzman, Apple Card and Apple Pay Services Are Having Problems, How-To Geek, December 20, 2023.) According to Apple’s System Status page, the outage began at 6:15 AM ET and was resolved by 10:45 AM ET. While brick-and-mortar transactions remained unaffected, the inability to process online payments during peak shopping hours underscored the vulnerability of even the most robust systems.
Similarly, in November 2023, several payment processing systems including Visa, and Bolt experienced outages on Black Friday, causing significant disruptions (source: Abigail O’Leary, Chase, Visa and Bolt Down Causing Black Friday Payment Processing Misery for Millions.) Down Detector reported an 80% surge in people reporting issues with credit card payments on Visa, and users expressed frustration over declined transactions and lack of communication from their banks.
One affected customer shared on social media:
“Chase, you need to do a better job communicating when your system is down and up so I’m not sitting on hold for 15 min trying to figure out why my card keeps getting declined.” — Amanda Palumbo (source: Abigail O’Leary, Chase, Visa and Bolt Down Causing Black Friday Payment Processing Misery for Millions.)
These incidents highlight how payment system failures can lead to lost sales, damaged reputations, and eroded customer trust during the most critical shopping periods.
Based on what we have seen so far, an inadequate payment infrastructure can lead to:
To avoid all the above, a solid payment infrastructure is essential.
Conversely, a robust payment service can:
According to Whop, “globally, $240 billion will be spent online during the 2024 holiday season. This is up 8.4% from 2023 when shoppers spent $222 billion online” (source: Whop, 100+ Black Friday Statistics for 2024.) Meeting consumer expectations with efficient payment services is crucial to capitalise on this global increased spending opportunity.
As transaction volumes soar during Black Friday, so does the risk of sophisticated fraud schemes. Cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to execute more effective and widespread attacks.
According to Signicat’s report, fraud attempts have increased by 80% in the last three years, with identity fraud attempts up by 74% (source: Signicat, Rising Payment Fraud Wave Threatens Consumers, Retailers, and the Payment Sector as Black Friday Approaches). Account takeover (ATO) has become the most common type of fraud affecting both B2C and B2B organizations. Juniper Research estimates that eCommerce fraud will rise from $44.3 billion in 2024 to $107 billion in 2029, a growth of 141% (source: Signicat, Rising Payment Fraud Wave Threatens Consumers, Retailers, and the Payment Sector as Black Friday Approaches.)
For high-risk, high-revenue industries such as online casinos, forex trading, and adult entertainment, the stakes are even higher. These sectors are prime targets for fraud due to the high transaction values and the regulatory complexities involved.
AI enables fraudsters to operate on a larger scale and with greater sophistication:
As Richard Horne, chief executive of the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre, aptly put it: “The discount period has become prime time for scammers.” (source: Lindsey Choo, Why Black Friday Is A Hotbed For AI Scams—And How To Spot Them, Forbes, November 20, 2024.)
The financial and reputational damage caused by fraud affects both consumers and businesses:
For industries like online casinos and forex trading, where trust and security are paramount, the implications are severe. A single fraud incident can deter high-value clients and attract regulatory scrutiny.
Implement Advanced Fraud Detection Systems
Utilise AI-driven fraud detection platforms that can:
Pinar Alpay, Chief Product & Marketing Officer at Signicat, emphasises:
“More comprehensive security strategies—incorporating facial biometrics, AI-based detection, and continuous monitoring—are crucial to protect both consumers and businesses against this growing and increasingly sophisticated threat.” (source: Signicat, Rising Payment Fraud Wave Threatens Consumers, Retailers, and the Payment Sector as Black Friday Approaches.)
Multi-Layered Security Approach
Adopt a multi-layered security strategy that includes:
Employee Training and Awareness
Educate staff on the latest fraud tactics:
Collaborate with Experts
Partner with cybersecurity firms specialising in high-risk industries:
Specialised payment service providers like VIP360 may help with all of the above, read further to find out how.
VIP360 offers advanced fraud prevention tools designed for high-risk, high-revenue businesses:
By integrating VIP360’s solutions, businesses can enhance their defences against AI-driven fraud without significant operational overhead.
Tech outages during peak shopping periods can be catastrophic. High-revenue businesses must prioritise infrastructure resilience to prevent downtime that could lead to significant revenue loss.
Implement Edge Computing Solutions
Alan Conboy, Office of the CTO at Scale Computing, emphasises the importance of edge computing:
“Instead of only sending and storing data in a centre located hundreds of miles away that every store on the network relies on, retailers should consider the deployment of an IT solution at the edge. A hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution with edge computing capabilities brings a mini data centre directly to each store, while still utilising the larger, off-site data centre. It combines high-performance servers and storage into a single, simple-to-use, on-site data centre that isn’t reliant on external networks, so downtime is no longer an issue.” (source: Alan Conboy, Office of the CTO at Scale Computing, retrieved from Spiceworks, How to Avoid a Tech Blackout on Black Friday.)
Enhance Infrastructure with Redundancy and Resilience
Steve Moore, Vice President and Chief Security Strategist at Exabeam, advises leveraging advanced security measures:
“Machine learning security approaches can make it fast and easy to find anomalous and suspicious user and device behaviour… Analysts can detect breaches sooner and reduce the amount of time that attackers are ’dwelling’ in a network environment.”(source: Steve Moore, Vice President and Chief Security Strategist at Exabeam, retrieved from Spiceworks, How to Avoid a Tech Blackout on Black Friday.)
Leverage Cloud and Multi-Cloud Strategies
Jeff Keyes, VP of Product Marketing at Planview, suggests incorporating chaos into software delivery pipelines:
“To prepare, all organizations should incorporate a little chaos into their software delivery pipelines to see how quickly they can react to last-minute changes, unpredictable loads, and unexpected failures.” (source: Jeff Keyes, VP of Product Marketing at Planview, retrieved from Spiceworks, How to Avoid a Tech Blackout on Black Friday.)
VIP360 and its rail partners offer a comprehensive payment infrastructure tailored to high-risk, high-revenue businesses.
By leveraging VIP360’s infrastructure, businesses can:
A high-risk online casino experienced frequent transaction failures and fraud attempts during peak periods in previous years. By integrating VIP360’s payment services before Black Friday, they achieved:
Black Friday doesn’t have to be a daunting prospect for high-risk, high-revenue businesses. With the right payment services and infrastructure in place, it becomes an opportunity to outperform competitors and achieve significant growth. The UK alone forecasts to spend GBP 7.1 billion on Black Friday, which is 37% up from last year’s spending, and whereby 68% of those purchases will occur online (data source: UK Consumers set to splurge 7.1 billion treating themselves this Black Friday).
As Adobe forecasts that Cyber Monday will see 30% more payment volume than Black Friday, the importance of a robust payment infrastructure extends beyond a single day (data source: Adobe, 2024 Holiday Shopping Report).
By focusing on scalable, secure, and compliant payment solutions—such as those offered by VIP360—businesses can navigate the complexities of Black Friday with confidence, turning potential challenges into strategic advantages.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of high-stakes commerce, preparation and the right partnerships are key. As Black Friday approaches, now is the time to assess, adapt, and align your payment services to ensure not just survival but success.
Your business deserves a reliable payments infrastructure that is built around its specific needs. Get in touch today to find out what our payment solutions experts can do for you and your revenue.
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