Hopes high for UK's Cyber Monday after Black Friday was strongest online

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 27, 2017

UK retailers have pinned their hopes on Cyber Monday to boost their November takings after Black Friday and the weekend showed weak store footfall but stronger business online.

Online sales volumes in the week leading up to Black Friday rose 11.3%, but even with this rise, PCA Predict figures show Black Friday e-sales still managed to rise 5.5%. 

With most Black Friday discounts continuing into Cyber Monday and new ones being added for the day, it’s a crucial moment in a shopping season that has been lacklustre so far.

Springboard said many retailers were promoting their main discounts online and it thinks that will have dented stores on Monday. It’s predicting Cyber Monday is likely to end with a 4% footfall drop.

BLEAK FRIDAY?

That prediction came after a weak few days in many physical stores. Springboard’s latest figures show overall footfall to stores down 3.6% on Black Friday, and the fall was even higher at certain peak hours. A 0.6% drop had been expected. Saturday footfall held up more strongly though with a drop of just 0.9%. 

For the three-day weekend, high streets fell 2.9% while shopping centres dropped 1.2%, but retail parks rose 3.2% with a more-than-6% surge on Sunday. Retail aprs have sped their fashion and leisure content in recent periods and this really does seem to be helping them win the footfall war.

Springboard blamed squeezed household incomes for the poor performance at some locations, as well as the fact that many stores had been running promotions well before Friday.