Christmas to boost December retail

London - It could be a very merry Christmas for the British high street, as market research firm Mintel predicts retail sales could grow by up to 4 percent in December.

Analysts at the firm now expect Christmas retail sales to reach 42.6 billion pounds after Black Friday proved to be a “damp squib”.

Black Friday "completely pointless"

Mintel director of retail research Richard Perks told Retail Week that a “completely pointless” Black Friday period has left “a lot of pent up spending power” that will come to the fore in December as shoppers splash out on gifts, festive decorations and indulgent food.

He said that spending on promotions at the end of November was lower than it was last year. “The BRC had suggested that people were holding off spending in October ahead of Black Friday, so I think there’s a lot of pent up spending power still there waiting to come through in December,” he said.

The comments came as UK retail destinations recorded continuing declines in footfall in the aftermath of Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday.

Retail footfall over the week ended December 6 was down 2.7 percent as shoppers continued to snap up online flash sales.

The overall decline was driven by significant falls in high street and shopping centre activity, which recorded 4.2 percent and 3.4 percent declines, respectively.

Retail parks bucked the trend with a 2 percent year-on-year increase. Retail park footfall rose considerably less when compared to the same week in 2014, when footfall rose by 3.7 percent YOY.

Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard, said: “The volume of activity in retail stores in the week following the Black Friday weekend has dipped further on the back of strong activity within the eCommerce space."