Note to editors: Cardlink reports how the market performed over the Christmas period

07 February 2024

Cardlink reports how the market performed over the Christmas period

Cardlink, a member of Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, collects and processes the data* resulting from card transactions carried out at its partner companies and reports overall market performance during the festive period (20/12-01/01).

More precisely, in the period 20 December – 01 January, the most card transactions during the festive period were carried out on Saturday 23 December 2023, with a record of 5.601 card transactions in one minute, while in terms of seconds, the most transactions were carried out on New Year’s Eve, twice during the day with 159 card transactions in a single second. In addition, the first transaction peak for 2024 occurred just one hour after New Year’s Eve at 01:20, with 274 transactions.

And as the Christmas period is traditionally an ideal opportunity for trips, booking ferry tickets is leading the way in consumer preferences, with a +280% growth in online card purchases and a +32% growth in physical card transactions compared to 2022. Meanwhile, as shown by market performance, hotel bookings were up compared to Christmas 2022, with online transactions up 30%.

It is also noted that both road and bus tours were numerous during the holidays, with the percentage increase in the number of physical POS transactions at bus counters, toll booths and bridges reaching +17% and +20% respectively. The picture was similar for online transactions, with the percentage increase in the number of transactions reaching +129% for bus and +34% for toll booths and bridges.

This year, popular Christmas destinations gained further traction, with the region of Evritania showing the largest increase in the number of transactions during the holidays (+79%) and the regions of Karditsa (+50%), Trikala (+48%) and Pieria (46%) to follow.

In addition, during the festive period, fast food showed a significant percentage increase in transactions compared to last year, with a +26% increase in physical stores, while online orders were also up by +42%.

In terms of shopping preferences, the telecoms products sector occupied an important position in the top 5 consumer preferences, with a +22% increase in online transactions compared to 2022, while card transactions at parking and cinemas also increased by 21% and 16% respectively.

You can read more about Cardlink’s insights at cardlink-black-friday-report-2023

Find here the infographic (in Greek)

*These figures reflect general market trends and should not be considered representative of Worldline’s market share or profits in Greece.

About Cardlink
Cardlink was founded in 2004 and is the largest payment service provider in Greece. Cardlink helps businesses with their day-to-day transactions with quality, security and speed. The Cardlink team monitors developments in the field of electronic payments and adopts the latest technologies and services that continuously improve the trading experience in physical and electronic commerce. Since September 2021, Cardlink has been member of Worldline (Euronext:WLN), the European leader in the payments services.
cardlink.gr

About Worldline
Worldline [Euronext: WLN] helps businesses of all shapes and sizes to accelerate their growth journey – quickly, simply, and securely. With advanced payments technology, local expertise and solutions customized for hundreds of markets and industries, Worldline powers the growth of over one million businesses around the world. Worldline generated a 4.4 billion euros revenue in 2022.
www.worldline.com
Read here the 2022 Integrated Report of Worldline.

Contact
Cardlink: Margarita Rosmari, tel. +30 210 6100674, email: pr@cardlink.gr
AIA Relate: Katerina Kaskouti, tel. +30 210 7418908, email: kaskouti@aea.gr