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Boxing Day footfall tumbles

By Danielle Wightman-Stone

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Key festive shopping dates, Christmas Eve and Boxing Day fail to attract the shoppers, as footfall numbers dropped, compared to the same days in 2015, according to figures from Springboard.

Christmas Eve had been predicted to be a second ‘super Saturday’ for retailers, however, shoppers stayed away with footfall dropping by 5.9 percent compared to 2015, as shoppers chose to conclude their shopping on Friday, December 23, which did see a 2 percent increase.

Boxing Day footfall was also disappointing as shoppers flocked to the online sales, with footfall down 7.3 percent year-on-year. This was driven by a 15.5 percent drop in shopping centre footfall and a 4.7 percent decline in those visiting Britain’s high streets, while out-of-town stores saw a drop of 3 percent on Boxing Day 2015.

However, online transactions for Boxing Day rose 11.5 percent year-on-year, retail data company Springboard said.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, 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 percent for Christmas Eve, though it is a key day for consumers to travel to their Christmas destination which may hinder footfall.

“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.”

Springboard