Black Friday fails to boost footfall

Black Friday failed to boost high street footfall despite a resurgence in consumer confidence, figures show.

Total UK footfall fell by 15.7% in November on the same month in 2019 as the harsh weather deterred some customers from shopping in stores, according to Brc-sensormatic IQ data.

However it was still comparatively strong at the second highest figure for this year, only second to October.

Footfall on high streets declined by 19.6% on two years ago, 1.3 percentage points below last month’s rate and above the three-month average decline of 20.3%.

Black Friday itself saw a decline of 23.4% on 2019, but footfall was still 35.3% higher than the previous weekend.

British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “While footfall over the Black Friday weekend failed to match its 2019 levels, this year saw deals spread over the entire month, allowing customers to bargain hunt over a prolonged period.”