Latest data from retail experts Springboard reveals that footfall rose by +4.8% across all UK retail destinations last week, which followed directly on from a rise of +5.9% in the week before. Not only is this the first time since late August that footfall has increased in two consecutive weeks, but the average over the two weeks of +5.4% is higher than the average of +3.2% over the two weeks in late August.
Footfall on Black Friday rose by +8.7% – more than four times the +2% rise on Thursday and one and a half times the average rise of +5% over the five days since Sunday, suggesting that Black Friday drove footfall up, despite the severe COVID restrictions in place across most of the UK.
The greatest rises from the previous week were in UK high streets and retail parks (+6.6% in high streets and +4.9% in retail parks), whilst footfall only rose by +1% in shopping centres.
“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,” commented Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard.
She added: “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.”
