Payment service provider Mollie analysed data from more than 125,000 merchants across Europe, primarily from Germany, UK, France, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The results show that buy now, pay later continues to be the payment method of the moment. Having seen BNPL more than double during the crucial retail week from 2019 to 2020, this year the rise continued at a significant, if reduced, rate.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman told CNBC this week that the firm's BNPL service on Black Friday saw volume up by 400% on the previous year.

Meanwhile, Mollie's research shows that small and medium-sized merchants across Europe experienced a 102% increase in the overall volume of transactions on Black Friday versus the Friday prior, demonstrating that the event is not just about behemoths such as Amazon.

For Cyber Monday, there was an increase of 16% in the overall volume of transactions versus the Monday before.

The times of the highest transaction volumes on Black Friday differed by country. In Germany, the key shopping period was 11:00 - 12:00, in France 19:00 - 20:00, the Netherlands 13:00 - 14:00 and in Belgium 16:00 - 17:00.

Average transaction volumes and values increased in clothing, shoes and accessories, home electronics and sporting goods categories. But sporting goods was the ‘star’ of this year’s Black Friday, experiencing eight times the average transaction value increase of clothing, shoes and accessories.

“Last year’s data hinted at the rapid growth of buy now, pay later methods for small and medium-sized merchants. Our 2021 data shows strong, meaningful growth, driven by the flexibility and choice BNPL offers consumers,” says Ken Serdons, chief commercial officer, Mollie.

In the US market, Paypal has been celebrating the success of its BNPL offering over the Thanksgiving weekend, reporting 750,000 transactions on Black Friday with volumes up 400% year-on-year.