Footfall sees Black Friday lull amid cost of living crisis
Springboard said that the modest rise indicates ‘reservation’ in consumers and a lull in footfall prior to Black Friday, despite a range of promotions already being active
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Footfall across UK retail destinations rose by a modest +1.6% last week from the week before, driven mostly by high streets (+1.7%) and shopping centres (+2.4%) whilst footfall in retail parks remained largely level from the week before (+0.5%), according to Springboard.
Springboard said that this indicates “reservation” in consumers and a lull in footfall prior to Black Friday, despite a range of promotions already being active.
The impact of the small rise in footfall last week was felt in the annual result, with the uplift from 2021 dropping back by nearly a half to +2.8% from +5% in the week before last.
The largest hit on an annual basis was felt in high streets, where the increase from 2021 dropped back by nearly a third to +2.7% from +6.5% in the week before last. On the plus side, the gap from the 2019 footfall level narrowed slightly to -10.5% from -11.1% in the week before last.
However, Springboard said the results for the week as a whole can present a “slightly misleading picture” as virtually all of the uplift emanated from increases over the week on Sunday and Monday that averaged +12.7%, which represented a bounce back from a decline of -9.4% in the week before last.
Between Tuesday and Thursday footfall dropped from the week before last by an average of -3.4% (versus +1.9% in the previous week), then it improved a little on Friday and Saturday to an average of +0.6%.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “As Black Friday promotions started to become evident, footfall across UK retail destinations rose marginally last week from the week before.
“The pattern of footfall last week was driven wholly by high streets and shopping centres, where a large proportion of demand emanates from discretionary spend, whilst in retail parks – many of which have a food store and other essential retailers – footfall was virtually flat on the week before each day.”
She added: “This suggests that despite a range of Black Friday promotions already being active, consumers have not yet increased their shopping activity, and may well be holding back in the hope of securing more favourable discounts as the week progresses. “
