McArthurGlen’s UK outlet centres have enjoyed buoyant Black Friday and Christmas trading, including their strongest week ever.
McArthurGlen
In fact, it was the most successful festive trading period in Britain for the business with sales rising 7% year-on-year in the seven weeks from Black Friday up to 4 January.
Visitor numbers rose 3.5% to five million, which importantly given the 7% value sales rise, means that those who turned up were spending a bit more than a year ago. And as well as the higher average spend, the company said it saw a volume sales increase of 8%.
Black Friday kicked off the festive period strongly with sales up 8% and Black Friday week itself as a whole was the highest-grossing week for the estate in the UK. All of its centres saw record sales for that week.
It said brands pulled out all the stops to deliver good stock availability and strong promotions with the result being that fashion, sportswear, accessories, beauty and homewares enjoyed a number period.
While some wider UK footfall figures have suggested that visitor traffic dropped off at shopping centres in December, McArthurGlen said that the month stayed buoyant for it with sales up 9% during the festive peak, its strongest UK figure ever.
The company operates UK outlet centres in Ashford, Bridgend, Cheshire Oaks, both the East and West Midlands, Swindon and York.
