Christmas trading hotting up
Week-on-week jump in SPSL figures
Retail traffic is increasing day-by-bay as consumers make their last shopping trips before Christmas.
The latest figures from SPSL’s Retail Traffic show week-on-week shopper numbers up by:
[L]3.8 per cent Sunday December 19 compared December 12 [/L]
[L]25.4 per cent Monday December 20 compared to December 13[/L]
[L]31.3 per cent Tuesday December 21 compared to December 14[/L]
While the jump is good news for retailers, year-on-year analysis shows footfall down 0.8 per cent on Sunday, 10.7 per cent on Monday, and 7.1 per cent on Tuesday.
Tim Denison, director of knowledge management at SPSL said: “Christmas trading this year has been affected by Christmas day falling on a Saturday and the continuation of the trend for shoppers to wait for retailers to declare sales – something retailers have largely resisted this year.
“As we predicted from the middle of November, footfall nationally will be slightly down, by 0.4 per cent, on last year overall. Retailers with the right products will still do well but the picture is muddied somewhat by a few high street names trading badly for other reasons, such as inappropriate buying and logistics issues.”
