Black Friday helps boost high street sales - BDO
High street sales pushed higher last week, according industry data, after hard-pressed shoppers snapped up Black Friday bargains.
The latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker, published on Friday, showed total like-for-like sales sparked 4.26% in the week ending 27 November. That compares to an equivalent week a year earlier, which also included Black Friday, when sales jumped 38.98%.
Sales showed large increases a year earlier, as the country emerged from lockdown and other Covid-related measures were relaxed.
In-store like-for-like sales improved 3.72% last week - compared to a 679.54% surge a year previously -while non-store sales increased 4.8% on the same basis. In November 2021 they declined 11.13%.
However, despite Black Friday promotions helping to boost overall demand, not all categories saw increases. Underlying sales of lifestyle goods were largely flat, down 0.1%, while homewares fell 3.83%. In contrast, fashion strengthened 8.14%, the category’s third consecutive rise.
BDO noted: "The weather was unsettled this week, marked by a cold spell accompanied by wet and windy conditions as well as widespread frost in northern parts of the UK."
The high street still saw the biggest growth in footfall, however, ahead 6.6%, while shopping centres saw an increase of 3.7%. Retail parks were largely flat, off 0.1%.