UK sees Black Friday footfall wipe out as coronavirus restrictions hit hard
Black Friday saw UK retail footfall down 77% year-on-year, as most non-essential stores remained closed during a second coronavirus lockdown, according to ShopperTrak data from Sensormatic Solutions.
In England, which has a national lockdown in place, this fell to -98%.
Even in Wales, which saw shopper traffic to recover to -31% in the weekend after its fire break lockdown ended, Black Friday footfall dipped again by 40% year-on-year, as people headed online.
“Black Friday’s footfall wipe out won’t come as a surprise, as England remains in the grip of a second national lockdown and shops remain closed. The real test for retailers comes as its non-essential stores reopen next week,” says Andy Sumpter, Sensormatic’s Retail Consultant for EMEA.
Research of over 1,000 UK shoppers by Sensormatic showed that before the four-week lockdown was announced, 27% of UK consumers had planned to start Christmas shopping in November and just 16% said they would leave it to the last minute in December.
Now, however, more than twice as many people are expected to hit the high street in December’s three-week window between retail re-opening on Wednesday, 2nd and Christmas Day.
Sumpter comments: “More than ever before, the shopping public will rely on bricks and mortar retail to save the day for their last minute shopping needs.”
“The challenge of managing a condensed three-week festive shopping window, whilst keeping shoppers and colleagues safe, will be hard work, and may require some fun and festive spirit from all involved.”
Those not respecting social distancing tops concerns about in-store retail for 47% of UK consumers, followed by long queues caused by social distancing (43%), product availability (21%) and store cleanliness (17%).
