Click-and-collect and online could bring ‘much-needed boost’ to retailers missing out on lucrative Black Friday

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Black Friday retail footfall this year will likely be down almost 60% compared to 2019 figures, largely due to England’s four-week lockdown that has seen all non-essential retailers close until 3 December.

More specifically, retail footfall will drop 59% on Black Friday itself and 58% over the weekend, by comparison to 2019.

The figure is largely propped up by essential retailers such as supermarkets.

However, Springboard, which provided this data, suggested that online shopping and click-and-collect will provide a much-needed boost to non-essential retailers over the weekend.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, commented: “It goes without saying that Black Friday this year will be like no other.

“In previous years – and it must be remembered that Black Friday has really only been a fixture in the annual retail calendar since 2013 – shifts in footfall on Black Friday have ranged between +9.8% (2014) and -5.4% (2018) from Black Friday in the year before.

“Needless to say, due to the lockdown in England, all products bar those available in essential stores will need to be purchased online, so online spend will undoubtedly increase substantially.

“Some of this online spend will of course have been driven by the lockdown, however, it reflects the even greater significance of online spend that is likely over Black Friday.

“For bricks-and-mortar stores, particularly in England, the opportunity over Black Friday will largely be limited to their ability to provide click-and-collect facilities, which is the only option for shoppers to purchase goods at non-essential stores.”

Elsewhere, the report forecasted that retail parks (-30.7%) would see less impact on their year-on-year footfall figures than high streets (-67.3%) and shopping centres (-64.7%).

This can be put down to the presence of supermarkets at around 75% of retail parks.

News Source : professionaljeweller

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and TJM Media Pvt Ltd. is not responsible for any errors in the same.