West End retailers enjoy Black Friday footfall spike

The jump in traffic marked a 5.1% uplift in shopper numbers compared to the same four-day weekend last year.

Black Friday sparked a 4.5% jump in footfall compared to the same day in 2015, according to figures revealed by the New West End Company.

Shopper traffic on Regent Street surged 4.7% on the day, while Bond Street enjoyed a 3.7% increase.

But retailers on Oxford Street had their busiest day on Saturday, when shopper numbers peaked 1.5% year-on-year.

Post-work peak

The most popular times for bargain hunters came towards the end of the day, as consumers flocked to the district after work.

Bond Street and Regent Street posted “significant” growth in shopper numbers of 57.4% and 21.1% respectively between 8pm and 9pm on Black Friday.

That also proved to be the “golden” hour on Oxford Street, where traffic surged 50.7%.

The New West End Company declared that bricks and mortar businesses had “defied the naysayers” who predicted that traditional shopping destinations would suffer sharp drops in footfall as more and more sales moved online.

Slow online sales

But data from PCA Predict revealed that ecommerce sales increased just 6.7% on Black Friday, much slower than the anticipated 25% jump.

The West End had predicted a £115.5m Black Friday spending spree and anecdotally retailers in the region said sales were up “single digits” year-on-year.

However the New West End Company is yet to disclose any sales data for the popular retail region.

New West End Company managing director for trading environment Steven Medway said: “Black Weekend reasserted its place as a stalwart on the retail calendar this year, with impressive footfall figures in the West End across the four-day period.

“Last year the discount day was the second busiest shopping day of the year for the West End and following this year’s positive display we expect a similarly impressive result.

“Critics last year may have predicted that the annual discount day would become a largely online trend, but these figures testify to the strength of the West End’s bricks and mortar retailers.”