Shopper traffic was sustained in the week following Black Friday (November 29), but a continued rise in footfall that retailers hoped would follow the event failed to occur.

Week-on-week footfall was flat in regional shopping centres and large town centres in the week to December 8, the Smart Steps/Retail Week Christmas Shopper Trends Tracker sho-wed. It fell 2% in city centres.

The findings chimed with department store John Lewis’ latest weekly sales update also showing a Black Friday effect.

While the retailer’s sales rose 1.8% year on year, they slipped 1.7% week on week, reflecting “just how significant Black Friday has become in the UK”.

However, the Smart Steps data also revealed that regional shopping centres drew increasing custom on weekdays from consumers travelling from more than 10km away last week.

Such traffic was up 38%, indicating some customers’ desire to avoid the crowds associated with last-minute Christmas shopping.

Smart Steps measures and profiles the size and movement of anonymous crowds, taken from aggregated mobile phone data from O2 owner Telefónica’s Dynamic Insights division.

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