November’s online shopping traffic peaks
As temperatures drop across the Northern Hemisphere, internet traffic patterns shift with the arrival of the holiday shopping season. Using Cloudflare Radar’s new e-commerce trend data by country, we can see how these changes played out in November—and which days attracted the most online shoppers.
Black Friday may be the most recognized shopping event, but it didn’t top the charts worldwide. Cyber Monday, November 29, saw the highest e-commerce traffic globally, followed by Monday, November 22, with Black Friday (November 26) close behind. The entire Thanksgiving week showed sustained high traffic levels.
In the United States, the picture is slightly different. Cyber Monday still ranks first, but the second and third most-trafficked days were actually November 1 and 2, the month’s opening days. While those early November days saw sharp single-day peaks, the Black Friday week delivered more consistent traffic across five consecutive days.
When isolating just Thanksgiving week, Black Friday is not the top day—Monday, November 22, takes that spot. That aligns with reports that many US shoppers returned to physical stores on Black Friday rather than shopping online. Still, Black Friday saw more sustained traffic throughout the day, with elevated activity continuing into the evening hours (early morning UTC) compared to earlier in the week. Only Cyber Monday outperformed it significantly, and Thanksgiving Day itself showed a notable dip as users paused shopping and browsing for the holiday.
Country-by-country variations
Regional trends reveal how shopping habits differ. In the UK, Black Friday was the most popular day, followed by Cyber Monday. Germany showed a similar pattern, with Black Friday first and Cyber Monday second, though November 2 also produced a notable traffic spike.
France bucked the trend: Thursday, November 18, and Tuesday, November 23, drew more e-commerce traffic than either Black Friday or Cyber Monday, even though the Black Friday week still saw a clear overall increase.
India, one of the fastest-growing online retail markets, also had its strongest week during the Black Friday period, with Cyber Monday as the top day, followed by November 24 and Black Friday itself.
Japan was a notable exception—November 18, 23, and 20 all outpaced Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and the strongest traffic came in the days just before and after the Black Friday week began.
Mobile usage climbs late in November
Mobile’s share of worldwide internet traffic rose noticeably after November 22, reaching about 55 percent of total traffic in the final week of the month. Black Friday itself saw mobile traffic share increase by more than 4 percent compared to the same period in the previous month, indicating that shoppers leaned heavily on phones and tablets for their holiday browsing and purchases.
The effect was even more pronounced in the US, especially on Thanksgiving Day (November 25), when mobile traffic share jumped more than 6 percent. Mobile usage also remained elevated on Black Friday, before dipping again over the weekend.
Cloudflare Radar offers up-to-date visibility into these traffic trends globally and at the country level, making it easier to track how human behavior shapes the internet throughout the year.
