Shoppers left the high street in the lurch during the week immediately after Black Friday, as Cyber Monday and continuing online-only sales adversely impacted retail footfall.
Analysts at Springboard said that for the week beginning November 25, which was the third day of the four-day Black Friday long weekend, footfall dropped 5.5 per cent year-on-year.
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While the drop was inevitable, given that week included Cyber Monday which is more online-focused than Black Friday, the magnitude of the decline was almost double that of the 3.1 per cent decline recording during the same week in 2017.
Springboard said all three retail destination types were impacted in similar degrees this year, with drops ranging from 4.3 per cent in retail parks, to 6.5 per cent in shopping centres.
In contrast to this, last year it was the high streets that were hardest-hit with a decline in footfall of 4.5 per cent compared with 2.6 per cent in shopping centres and just 0.3 per cent in retail parks.
“Tuesday last week was by far the worst day for footfall, with double digit drops across all three destination types,” Springboard said in a note.
“Activity improved marginally over the week, culminating in uplift in footfall of 0.5 per cent on Friday, possibly driven by click-and-collect activity.”
Springboard said the latest footfall figures showed that retailers did not get the much-needed relief from the challenges that plague UK high streets.
It also warned that more high-profile closures were likely next year.
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