Insight: retail footfall up 2% on Black Friday
New figures have shown that footfall in shops rose by 2% year-on-year on Black Friday.
According to retail intelligence specialist Springboard, the increase was in contrast to a forecasted drop of 5%.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “The results from Black Friday itself were very surprising, highlighting the fact that Black Friday is still an evolving shopping day in the UK.”
On Friday itself, footfall in high streets rose by 2.8% while retail park and shopping centre footfall edged up 0.8% and 1.4% respectively.
Springboard said the unexpected increase was a consequence of a lower than predicted rise in online purchasing, which grew by just 6.7% against Black Friday last year. This compared with a forecast of 25% and a rise of 31% in 2015.
Saturday showed a slight fall in footfall overall which was down by 0.8% compared with the same Saturday last year. However, high street footfall rose by 1.2% year-on-year. Meanwhile, footfall in shopping centres dropped by 4.4% as a result of a decline in footfall during the shopping hours of 9am to 5pm. Footfall in retail parks was down 1.3%.
Springboard said the drop in shopping centre footfall reflects the fact that many of the retailers in shopping centres are multiples which also have a strong online presence and offer shoppers an opportunity to shop from the comfort of their sofa.
Wehrle added: “This is attractive if centres do not have a range of appeal beyond pure retail that entices customers out such as restaurants and opportunities for leisure such as cinemas which are now in greater demand as part of a shopping trip.”
