British consumers to spend 2.97 billion pounds

UK shoppers are on course today to spend a record amount of 2.97 billion pounds online and in store, passing the previous record of 2.8 billion pounds spent on December 21 and 27, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Center for

Retail Research (CRR.)

So far more than 2.7 billion pounds has been spent in stores and online, with a number of retailers reporting the busiest Boxing Day to date. According to the CRR, an estimated 2.22 billion pounds was spent yesterday in brick-and-mortar stores, a 5.7 percent increase from last year's Boxing Day. The IMRG, the internet retailers association, reported a new record of 540 million pounds being spent during Boxing Day, a 15 percent increase from the previous year.

Amount spent on Friday to surpass Boxing Day

Analysts at the CRR are predicting that spending on Friday will exceed Boxing Day, with shoppers expected to spend 2.57 billion pounds in store and 400 million pounds online. Richard Hymans, an independent retail analyst told the Independent that the internet had “come of age,” and in a recent report, Experian, global data company, predicted that UK consumers would spend over 45 million hours shopping online between December 24 and 26. Analysts at Experian also highlighted the growing importance of online sales, noting a 7.6 decrease in British high street footfall over the week leading up to Christmas.

Nevertheless, on Boxing Day millions of UK shoppers were drawn to the high streets and shopping centers, after poor weather conditions hit the country during the run-up to Christmas. Springboard, retail data company, reported an 8 percent increase of shoppers hitting Boxing Day sales compares to last year, despite weather conditions still affecting parts of the country. The majority of shoppers were drawn to larger indoor shopping centers, with a 22 percent increase of visitors out searching for the right Boxing Day offer.

Department store John Lewis reported a 13 percent increase for online orders placed during Christmas Eve from last year, with Christmas Day online orders up 19 percent. John Lewis began its end of year sale online at 5 pm on Christmas Eve and within the first hour sales grew 13 percent on last year, with over half of the sites traffic coming from mobile devices. “The tipping point has now passed and we expect mobile to be the way the majority of people shop online from now on,” commented Mark Lewis, online director for John Lewis.

Selfridge's reported online sales to be up 110 percent, with over 400,000 shoppers visiting it online store during Christmas day alone. The premium department store chain also revealed that it almost took in 2 million pounds during the first hour of trading on Boxing Day, with 3,500 shoppers queuing outside its London branch in anticipation of its sales. Sue West, retail director at Selfridge's believes that the ITV series concerning Mr Selfridge, the store founder has done “wonders for the brand.” She adds since the show went live, the stores has seen a surge of new customers.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, told the BBC: “Everything culminated into a perfect storm, all of our shopping locations struggled to meet last year's performance. We were hit with a double whammy of wind and rain.” Wehrle added that UK shoppers are also “increasingly savvy” when it comes to sales and bargain hunting, with more and more consumers willing to “hold out” for the right discount.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, told the Telegraph: “Consumers are likely to be especially keen to take advantage of the genuine, major bargains in the sales to acquire items that they are otherwise struggling to afford or are reluctant to make at the moment.” He added, “however, we suspect that given still squeezed purchasing power, many people will be likely to be careful in buying – or reluctant to buy – items that they don’t really want or need in the sales. If this is the case, interest in the sales could fall away pretty quickly once the best of the bargains have gone.”

Photos: Piccadilly Circus, Selfridges, Oxford Street.