West End forecasts 50 million pounds of sales on Christmas Eve

The second ‘Super Saturday’ on Christmas Eve is forecast to rake in 50 million pounds for retailers in London’s West End, as last minute shoppers look to complete their Christmas shopping.

Figures released by the New West End Company, which represents businesses across London’s West End including retailers on Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street, is expecting more than 900,000 visitors to the area on Christmas Eve as it falls on a Saturday this year and is predicting a turnover forecast of 50 million pounds.

Jace Tyrrell, chief executive of New West End Company, said: “We’ve witnessed a fantastic trading environment in the run-up to Christmas, with November and Black Friday weekend exceeding all expectation and continuing to show growth on this time last year.

“We expect a significant trading day on Christmas Eve, boosted by continued international spend and the traditional ‘last minute dash’.”

Retailers in the West End have enjoyed a strong Christmas trading period to date, with sales in November soaring by 13.9 percent year-on-year. With Black Friday being the busiest trading day, with a two percent increase in footfall.

The discount day extended over the whole weekend this year, with footfall for the four-day period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday reaching 3,654,056, an uplift of 5.1 percent from the same period in 2015.

West End’s luxury sector has also enjoyed “strong sales”, driven by international shoppers taking advantage of the weak pound following the EU referendum vote, up 51 percent year-on-year with jewellery seeing a 19.7 percent increase.

Bond Street sales were up 34.3 percent year-on-year in November, while retail sales in Oxford Street were up 13.6 percent and Regent Street saw a 14.3 percent uplift.

Tyrell added: “The long-term impact of Brexit is yet to be determined and price normalisation will offset the positive effect we’ve witnessed in the second half of this year. This, combined with business rate increases of up to 80%, will mean a challenging year ahead for West End retail.”