December 22 was the busiest shopping day on record and Dankort sales up to December 23 were up seven percent on December last year, Metroxpress reports.

Taking into account inflation and transfers via Mobilepay, which also use the Dankort system, the trade organisation Dansk Erhverv calculates that there was a one percent increase on last year.

According to Dansk Erhverv, the increase can be partly explained by a rise in online shopping – accounting for 16 percent of Christmas shopping, ten percent more than last year.

Very good news
Henrik Hyltoft, a markets manager at Dansk Erhverv told the newspaper that this led to a spike in activity early in the month. “If you look at Danes’ combined shopping patterns, there was both large Dankort activity at the beginning of December, where many bought gifts online, as well as at the end of the month, where Christmas food and the last gifts were needed,” he said.

Steen Bocian, a chief economist at Danske Bank, told the newspaper that the consumption figures were of wider significance. “No matter how you look at the numbers, private consumption seems to be on its way up to speed,” he said.

“Consequently today’s figures are very good news for the Danish economy as we leave 2014. There’s room for consumption growth and an increase in consumption can contribute to ensuring growth in the economy as a whole, which provides the basis for more jobs.”