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Black Friday fails to bring much-needed footfall boost to the high street

By Vivian Hendriksz

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Retail

London - Black Friday discounts were not enough to tempt UK consumers back to the high streets in droves, as consumers preferred to do their shopping online this discounting holiday.

High street footfall was down 4.2 percent for Black Friday 2017 on last year, as shoppers chose to stay indoors and browse the promotional offerings from the comforts of their own homes. Footfall declined 3.6 percent year on year across all retail locations, including shopping centres and retail parks, which is significantly worse than the predicted drop of 0.6 percent, according to data from Springboard.

This decline in footfall highlights the ongoing shift in consumer shopping habits. In the past, police and emergency services were called to break up fights among shoppers keen to snag Black Friday bargains on electronics at major supermarkets, such as Tecos. However, this year, when media gathered at a branch of Currys/PC World on Oxford Street to record the flurry of shoppers, they welcomed a single shopper at 7 am who was there to collect a pre-ordered laptop.

Footfall falls on Black Friday 2017 as shoppers embrace online sales

With a number of retailers, including Debenhams, John Lewis and House of Fraser, kicking off their period of discounting in the week running up to the big event, consumers less pressured to head out to the high street to secure a bargain, thus further impacting Black Friday’s effect. The volume of online transactions rose 11.3 percent in the week before Black Friday as consumers took advantage of the early deals.

“It was not Black Friday but mid grey week,” said Diane Wehrle of shopper traffic measuring firm Springboard to the Guardian. “With the budget this week and concerns about the economy, people are feeling fairly cautious about spending money on stuff they possibly don’t really need.”

However, as many retailers extended their promotional offers across the weekend to Cyber Monday, some shoppers were encouraged to venture out on Saturday to browse the sales while collecting purchases made online, as footfall was down 0.9 percent. In spite of the lower footfall, consumers are predicted to have spent more overall during Black Friday 2017 than last year.

Barclaycard, which processes close to half all debit and credit card transactions in the UK, predicted that Black Friday spending was up 8 percent this year, thanks to online sales. John Lewis reported one of its most ‘promising’ Black Friday’s to date, driven by a surge in online sales, while Argos reported 2 million visitors to its website in the four hours after the retailer launches its Black Friday deals on Thursday night.

Photo: Pixabay

Black Friday
Cyber Monday
John Lewis