New analysis from Patchworks shows that December ecommerce activity is becoming increasingly front-loaded, with peak demand arriving earlier in the month and remaining active even on traditionally quieter days.
According to the data across December, average daily performance remained consistent, providing a stable operational baseline, but the strongest activity was concentrated in the first few days of the month. The four highest days all fell between 1 and 4 December, with daily volumes running between 129% and 160% of the monthly average. In 2025, Cyber Monday fell on 1 December, and often Black Friday deals run for a week, so this surge in activity is to be expected.
In 2025, traditional festive benchmarks underperformed expectations. Boxing Day, long viewed as a critical retail moment, ran 21.6% below the monthly daily average according to the findings. Rather than seeing demand concentrated in a single post-Christmas spike, activity appeared to have been either pulled forward into early December or spread more evenly across the month. A number of interpretations can be made, two of which are Boxing Day fell on a Friday, so many consumers may have focused on their vacation as opposed to shopping, and additionally further insights, from sources other than Patchworks, reveal that consumers are not as excited by post-Christmas sales, often citing that the original prices are inflated pre-Christmas and thus applied discounts are not deep enough to tempt shoppers.
From an operations perspective, for retailers, it highlights the growing importance of early-month readiness rather than relying on a single late-season peak.
Christmas Day itself was far from quiet. Activity still reached around 70% of the monthly daily average, reinforcing the reality of always-on ecommerce and the need for resilient systems throughout the festive period. Jim Herbert, CEO of Patchworks, stated:
“Peak trading no longer happens on a single, predictable day. What we’re seeing is demand arriving earlier, staying higher for longer, and continuing even on days that were once considered operational downtime. For retailers, this changes how they need to think about preparedness. The pressure on integrations and systems is front-loaded and persistent, not confined to a few headline dates.”
For retailers and ecommerce teams, success now depends on being ready earlier in December and maintaining operational resilience across the entire holiday period, including Christmas Day itself.
