Black Friday shoppers favoured online sales

Shoppers favoured online flash sales throughout 2015’s Black Friday weekend. The high street failed to draw a crowd, with retail analyst company Springboard noting a 9.6 percent year-over-year drop in footfall from November 27-29.

Customers turned their attention to the web. PCA Predict reported a 12 percent increase in online traffic over the weekend. Retail parks were the only traditional outlets to buck the trend. The out-of-town destinations saw a 4.9 percent increase in footfall.

Diane Wehrle, Marketing and Insights Director at Springboard, said: ‘The volume of activity in retail stores over the Friday and Saturday of the Black Friday weekend is lower than last year and the evidence clearly points to the fact that much of this is due to a significant increase in shoppers using online to participate in the event.”