It has been revealed by Springboard that footfall increased 2% on 23rd December from 22nd December, however compared to the same period the previous year footfall dropped 5.5% and on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day the number of customers decreased 5.9% and 7.3% respectively year-on-year.
Commenting, insights director at Springboard, Diane Wehrle, said: “Though Christmas Eve is not necessarily the busiest day for trading, retailers do expect to see shoppers out to make some last-minute purchases, bolstered this year by the fact that it fell on a Saturday. However, this year footfall was down 5.9% for Christmas Eve, though it is a key day for consumers to travel to their Christmas destination which may hinder footfall.
“The results for Christmas Eve did however reflect the wider trend we have seen this year, that is for a decline in footfall across all retail destinations but a modest bounce back on the High Street. Even the peak trading day of 23 December saw a drop in footfall from 23 December last year of 5.5%.”
Contributing the most to the drop in footfall on Boxing Day were shopping centres, which saw a fall of 19.9%. Meanwhile, figures from PCA Predict show that online sales on Boxing Day increased 6.2% year-on-year.
Wehrle added: “Though retailers will be pleased that online sales have helped temper the decrease in bricks and mortar sales over the Christmas trading period, Springboard are predicting that the decline in footfall will continue for the rest of the week.
“We expect that most consumers who venture out this week will be doing so for leisure as opposed to shopping, thus giving the high street the edge as it able to service the consumer demand for bars, restaurants and coffee shops.”
