Springboard Marketing and Insights Director, Diane Wehrle has commented on the boost to footfall delivered by Black Friday, which was up by 8.0% week on week, but down by over 60% compared with the same day in 2019.
“Footfall activity in UK retail destinations last week was clearly influenced by Black Friday, despite severe Covid restrictions across the majority of the UK which rendered it even more online focussed than in previous years. For the first time since the last week of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and the bank holiday in late August, footfall in UK retail destinations rose for the second consecutive week from the week before. In addition, the increase in footfall on Friday was nearly double the average increase over the previous five days.
Footfall in high streets and retail parks across the UK rose more than in shopping centres, but the UK wide result for shopping centres was severely impacted on by the shift of a number of areas in Scotland into Tier 4. In contrast, in England despite the lockdown, footfall rose in shopping centres by nearly as much as in high streets and by more than in retail parks. In Northern Ireland there were significant increases in footfall on each day in the run up to lockdown which started on Friday.”
