For senders in the UK, Saturday and Sunday carried just under a quarter of Black Week's shipments in each of the last two peak seasons, the largest weekend share of the seven countries in our data. Plan the weekend after Black Friday as part of peak, with its own shifts and collections.
Each day of peak season is visible in the shipments our customers book through nShift. The shape of peak, our Black Friday benchmark report, compares each day of the 2024 and 2025 peaks with a regular week in early November. This post applies the same measure to senders in the UK around Black Week, the Monday-to-Sunday week that includes Black Friday, and compares them with senders in six other countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
Senders in the UK shared the platform's busiest day of Black Week, Black Friday. In both seasons we measured, a UK plan copied from platform-wide patterns would have left the weekend after Black Friday short, put too little capacity into the week before Black Week and released extra capacity too early in December.
Senders in the UK had the largest weekend share in both seasons
Saturday and Sunday together carried 23.0% of Black Week's shipments from the UK in 2024 and 23.1% in 2025. Across the whole nShift platform, the same two days made up 19.4% in both years.
Black Friday was the busiest day of Black Week, with 17.2% of the week's shipments in 2024 and 17.7% in 2025. Monday to Thursday had about 15% each. Saturday and Sunday each had about two-thirds of Friday's shipments, closer to Friday than in any of the other six countries.
For your 2026 plan: Black Friday falls on 27 November 2026, and the weekend after it is 28 and 29 November. Plan each weekend day from your own Friday volume, at the ratio your 2025 Black Week showed. Then decide how those parcels leave the building: on a weekend collection, or on Monday's first collection alongside Cyber Monday's own orders. We recommend that you confirm with each carrier, well before Black Week, which days they collect and at what cost.
Black Friday or Cyber Monday: which day was busier?
Across the whole platform, Cyber Monday, the Monday after Black Friday, had more shipments than Black Friday in both seasons. The UK was the only one of the seven countries where a different day led in each season: Cyber Monday in 2024 and Black Friday in 2025.
Cyber Monday's size against a regular Monday held steady. It reached 1.77 times a regular early-November Monday in 2024 and 1.80 times in 2025, against 1.53 and 1.54 times across the platform. In 2025 that was the highest in our data, and in 2024 only Belgium was higher.
92%
Cyber Monday against Black Friday, senders in the UK, 2025
107% in 2024. Cyber Monday was busier in 2024, Black Friday in 2025.
108%
Cyber Monday against Black Friday, whole nShift platform, 2025
109% in 2024. Cyber Monday was the busier day in both years.
After the weekend: forecast Cyber Monday, 30 November 2026, as a multiple of your own regular early-November Mondays, the measure that repeated in our UK data.
Shipments from the UK stayed high on both sides of Black Week
For five weeks, from the week before Black Week to the third week after it, shipments from the UK were above a regular week in both seasons, as in every country in our data except Norway.
In the week before Black Week, UK senders already shipped 1.46 and 1.41 times a regular week, against 1.22 and 1.25 across the platform. Black Week brought 1.81 and 1.87 times. The first week after, which includes Cyber Monday, came to 1.69 and 1.61 times.
By the third week after Black Week, the platform was back to 1.09 and 1.13 times a regular week, while senders in the UK were still shipping 1.41 and 1.34 times. In both seasons, the week before, the first week after and the third week after were higher in the UK than in any other country in our data.
Of all the shipments above a regular week's level across those five weeks, 72% in 2024 and 66% in 2025 fell outside Black Week, against 59% and 60% across the platform. No other country in our data had a higher share in either season. In practice, a plan built on this pattern puts most of its extra shifts and collections into the weeks either side of Black Week.
Across the season: have extra capacity in place from the week of 16 November 2026 and keep it until 20 December. Christmas week fell to 0.67 times a regular week in both seasons, so plan to release extra capacity from 21 December, once your open orders fit within regular capacity and the delivery dates you have promised.
How the UK compares with Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium
Based on what we're seeing across the seven countries, if you ship from the UK and another market, give each country its own peak plan.
- Denmark was the other country where Friday led Black Week, with the largest Black Friday share of the seven (21.3% and 20.6%). Its week before Black Week was quieter than the UK's, at 1.13 and 1.11 times a regular week, and Black Friday stayed ahead of Cyber Monday in both seasons. See Black Week in Denmark for its full pattern.
- The Netherlands had the second-highest share of extra peak shipments outside Black Week after the UK, at 65% in both seasons. Monday was its busiest day of Black Week, Cyber Monday had 14% and 17% more shipments than Black Friday, and Saturday and Sunday carried 16.1% and 14.6% of the week.
- Belgium had the smallest weekend share of the seven, at 11.9% and 12.8% of Black Week, a little over half the UK's.
What both UK peaks had in common, and where they differed
Both seasons agreed on these: Black Friday as the busiest day of Black Week, the weekend's share of the week, Cyber Monday's size against a regular Monday, and five weeks above a regular week. Several levels differed between the seasons. Set the following from your own records before you plan the days:
- Which of Black Friday and Cyber Monday was bigger. Cyber Monday had 107% of Black Friday's shipments in 2024 and 92% in 2025. Once you have sized Cyber Monday from your regular Mondays, plan both days at the level of the bigger one, because either can come out ahead.
- Which weekend day was busier. Saturday had 11.7% of Black Week in 2024 and Sunday 11.3%. In 2025, Sunday had 11.8% and Saturday 11.3%. Staff both days and book collections for both at the same level.
Peak weeks for UK senders in 2026
Set your own forecast against the table below, one week at a time.
Peak 2026 calendar for shipping from the UK: weekly shipments against a regular early-November week
| 2026 week | 2024 | 2025 | For your plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week before Black Week 16 to 22 November |
1.46x | 1.41x | Extra capacity in place; volume already well above a regular week |
| Black Week (Black Friday, 27 November) 23 to 29 November |
1.81x | 1.87x | Black Friday is the busiest day of the week; plan weekend shifts and collections too |
| First week after (Cyber Monday, 30 November) 30 November to 6 December |
1.69x | 1.61x | Size Cyber Monday from your regular Mondays; collect the weekend's parcels first |
| Second week after 7 to 13 December |
1.47x | 1.36x | Keep peak capacity in place |
| Third week after 14 to 20 December |
1.41x | 1.34x | Still well above a regular week; plan the release for Christmas week |
Shipments booked on the nShift platform by senders in the UK, against a regular early-November week (1x) in the same year. 2024 and 2025 weeks are placed on the 2026 week in the same position around Black Friday.
For the weekend plan, have these to hand:
- your Black Week shipments by day for 2024 and 2025, Saturday and Sunday included
- your Black Friday, Cyber Monday and early-November Monday volumes for both years
- each carrier's Saturday and Sunday collections, and its terms for extending extra capacity into December, from each of your UK carriers
If your site is in code freeze for peak, several delivery and returns settings can still change without a developer.
Plan your UK peak weekend with nShift
The full report includes the weekends, the weekdays and the weeks either side of Black Week.
The shape of peak covers the whole nShift platform for 2024 and 2025: how long peak lasted, which days had the most shipments, and the checks to make on capacity, cutoffs and Saturday collections before peak 2026.
Get the Black Friday reportFor a check of your UK weekend plan against your own data, talk to our team. We'll go through your forecast, service mix and carrier agreements, including weekend collections, and show you how one platform connects you to more than 1,000 carriers. There's more on peak in our Black Friday and peak season hub.
How we measured
The figures cover outbound shipments booked on the nShift platform by senders in the UK around Black Friday 2024 and 2025, counted on the day each shipment was booked, with identified returns excluded. A regular week is the average of the two early-November weeks in the same year: 4 to 17 November 2024 and 3 to 16 November 2025. A regular Monday is the average of the Mondays in those two weeks. The data describes nShift's senders in the UK, wherever their parcels were going, rather than the UK ecommerce market as a whole. The mix of senders can differ between years, so every multiple and share is calculated within the same year.
