UK consumer footfall to hit high note on December 23

Visitor footfall within the UK's shopping centers and high streets is predicted to reach its peak on Tuesday, December 23 as shoppers scramble to purchase last minute Christmas gifts before the big day on Thursday.

According to Experian, footfall is predicted to increase 53 percent compared to the daily average on December 23 following 'Panic Monday' on the December 22. This day is expected to occur as consumers switch from online shopping to brick-and-mortar stores to ensure they purchase everything they need before the big day.

“Christmas 2014 has already seen the rise of various shopping phenomena, such as the mainstream adoption of Black Friday in the UK and the advent of Manic Monday, which took over Cyber Monday as the busiest online shopping day this year,” commented Steve Richardson, Regional Director, UK & Ireland at Experian Footfall.

“With this year’s footfall set to follow the same pattern as 2003 and 2008, when Christmas Day also fell on a Thursday, we expect Tuesday 23 December to be the busiest day in terms of shopper traffic. Last year, the peak periods on the busiest Christmas shopping day fell during the lunchtime rush, between 1pm and 2pm.”

Over the past three years, there has been an average increase of 7.4 percent in the footfall during the last week prior to Christmas, with December 23 showing the largest growth of percent. Experian predicts this year to follow the same pattern.

“To ready themselves, retailers may wish to bolster their rotas on this day to ensure there are sufficient sales associates to service customers’ needs, open up additional tills as required or adopt queue busting strategies to optimise in-store shopper journeys,” added Richardson.