Black Friday boosts central London shopper numbers despite lockdown
Black Friday boosted retail footfall in central London last week despite the closure of all non-essential shops.
Footfall rose 4.8 per cent across all UK retail destinations compared to the previous week, soaring 21.6 per cent in central London and 5.1 per cent in outer boroughs.
UK high streets and retail parks benefited the most from the surge in shopper numbers, with footfall up 6.6 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.
However, despite the week-on-week jump – driven by Christmas shoppers and discounting in the run up to Black Friday – UK retail footfall is down 56.9 per cent compared to last year.
Central London shopper numbers are still down 77.8 per cent compared to 2019 levels, with footfall down 48.9 per cent in outer London, according to the latest analysis from Springboard.
On Black Friday itself, retail footfall across all UK shopping destinations rose 8.7 per cent.
Despite the jump in footfall, Black Friday transactions were down on the previous year due to the impact of store closures.
Barclaycard Payments, which processes nearly £1 in every £3 spent in the UK, said on Friday that there had been a 16.7 per cent decrease in the volume of payments compared to last year.
However, the company predicted a Black Wednesday when shops reopen later this week.
Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle said: “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.”