WHILE the "Black Friday" bubble may have burst, Worcester's shops needn't be too worried yet, a retailers' leader has said.

According to accountancy and business advisory firm BDO, High Street sales took a significant tumble last month, reflecting the "damp squib" of Black Friday discounting, with sales falling 4.3 per cent compared to the same month a year ago.

However, Mike Ashton, chief executive of Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, said: "I think ‘Black Friday’ hype on the High Street might have had its day, with millions spent online. However, we need to consider retail figures for in-store and online shopping together. We also must not forget that Worcester just hosted a fantastic Victorian Christmas Fayre which might have encouraged people to buy ‘Black Friday’ deals from High Street stores online, rather than in person, so they could enjoy the Christmas stalls which were here for a limited time. I don’t think the High Street needs to be worried about this just yet.”

The November drop equalled the largest fall in monthly like-for-like sales this year and retailers would have to look to November 2008 to find a more severe monthly dip beyond this year.

Mixed messages and confusing discounting strategies contributed to a downturn across all sectors, with sales of lifestyle goods down four per cent and fashion stores – which were already reeling from the mild autumn weather – seeing sales fall 4.9 per cent on this time last year. Black Friday analysts have noted that shoppers shunned the High Street to spend £1.1b online or £763,000 every minute.

But BDO said even online sales were affected by the spending slowdown, with non-store sales growing by just 15.1 per cent year-on-year. BDO head of retail and wholesale, Sophie Michael, said: "Last year's Black Friday caught many stores off-guard, and panic discounting played havoc with stock levels, leading to erosion in margin and reputational damage when websites crashed and logistics went awry. This year retailers were far more organised and tried to create a pre-Christmas shopping event that works for the UK shopper, with many extending offers over a number of days rather than just the Friday. The anecdotal evidence so far is that, whilst there have been some hiccups, fulfilment has been much smoother than last year, which must be seen as a success."