• Footfall slumps 9.6% over Black Friday weekend
  • Comes after a 4.5% drop in footfall on Black Friday
  • But retail parks buck weekend trend as shopper numbers increase 4.9%

Footfall slumped across Black Friday weekend as consumers continued to take advantage of online flash Sales rather than visiting stores.

Shopper numbers plummeted 9.6% compared to last year’s Black Friday weekend, according to data from footfall analysts Springboard.

Footfall had dropped 4.5% on Black Friday itself, but that figure was boosted by an evening rush of trade. As previously reported, footfall had fallen 8% up until 5pm on Friday as web traffic rose 16%, according to PCA Predict.

Etail titan Amazon reported its biggest ever sales day as customers shunned shops to order more than six million items.

The decline in shopper numbers worsened across Cyber Weekend as web traffic increased 12% over Saturday and Sunday.

Bricks-and-mortar retailers had continued their promotional frenzy into the weekend in a bid to drive up sales and shopper numbers. But footfall decreased 6.8% on both days as consumers stayed away from high streets and shopping centres.

Retail parks boosted

Retail parks were the only destinations to buck the trend, reporting a 4.9% uplift in footfall across Saturday and Sunday following a 1.8% dip on Black Friday.

Springboard said this was likely to be driven by an influx of customers who had bought products online on Friday, before visiting the out-of-town locations over the weekend to take advantage of retailers’ click-and-collect services.

“The growth of click-and-collect in supporting store visits should not be under-estimated, particularly for retail parks, with many shoppers now opting to buy online but to then visit stores to pick up their purchases.”

Diane Wehrle, Springboard

Springboard marketing and insights director Diane Wehrle said: “The volume of activity in retail stores over the Friday and Saturday of the Black Friday weekend is lower than last year and the evidence clearly points to the fact that much of this is due to a significant increase in shoppers using online to participate in the event.

“The fact that footfall has increased significantly over the weekend from the previous week, while declining from the same days in 2014, is a strong indicator that the nature of Black Friday – and indeed all shopping – has continued to move toward online over the year fuelled by the increased usage of mobile phones, which according to PCA Predict make up 35% of all online traffic.

“In addition, the growth of click-and-collect in supporting store visits should not be under-estimated, particularly for retail parks, with many shoppers now opting to buy online but to then visit stores to pick up their purchases.”

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