RETAILERS are preparing to see whether Black Friday will boost footfall or drive more customers to the internet.

The American shopping event has become a UK institution in recent years, hitting a peak in 2014 with near-riots as some stores opened early to offer massive discounts.

But forecasts published yesterday by the industry group Springboard suggested that high street footfall this year could be 3.7 per cent down on last year.

Online transactions were expected to rise by four per cent, but even that was a slowdown on the 2017 increase of 5.5 per cent.

B&Q, with a branch at Weymouth, has abandoned Black Friday entirely this year, saying almost half of consumers do not plan to shop during the event.

Phil Gordon, project director for Dorchester Business Improvement District (BID), said a number of businesses in the town were offering Black Friday deals. They included jeweller Allum & Sidaway, Woods Furniture and fashion stores Phase Eight and Joules.

“I certainly think there are some getting engaged with the idea,” he said.

“I think part of the problem about Black Friday is it’s a terrible name. Most people think of black anything as being when a stock market crash or something horrible happens.”

He said high streets could still compete with the Black Friday deals online.

“Most of the way these things work online is it’s first come, first served,” he said.

“People seem to like to make the effort to out to a shop earlier, perhaps giving them a better chance of getting a limited number of items.

“There’s a bit of a buzz about perhaps getting yourself an absolute bargain and proudly parading it through the town on the way back to your car.”

Claudia Moore, chief operating officer of Weymouth BID, said some shops in the town were taking part. “I think a lot of retailers are worried about it,” she said.

“I think the best way to attract people away from the internet is to offer them some sort of experience within your shop, but it’s not always practical for smaller independents.”

Springboard has said Black Friday brings Christmas spending forward, boosting trade at the end of November but suppressing it for weeks afterwards, until retailers reveal their last-minute deals.

This year has been a tough one for retail, with Toys R Us and Maplins disappearing entirely and others closing branches, including Carpetright, Mothercare and Marks & Spencer.

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