With just over four weeks to go until December 25, retailers, to include gift shops, are on the final countdown, with good news from retail analysts Springboard confirming that footfall was up by 6.2% in high streets, and 3.3% in shopping centres, compared to the previous week. The biggest rises were seen in Central London and regional cities.
“The beginning of the Christmas trading period began in earnest in many retail destinations last week, and had an increasingly positive impact on shopper activity ahead of Black Friday,” commented Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s Insights Director. “Across the week as a whole, the increase in footfall last week was nearly three times that of the week before.”
She said that high streets led the charge – supported by Christmas lights being switched on in town centres across the UK – with an uplift in footfall that was virtually double that in shopping centres.
“Shoppers were clearly gravitating to larger towns and cities in order to soak up the Christmas atmosphere. While there were significant rises across all types of town centre, there were particularly large increases in Central London and city centres outside of the capital. Footfall in retail parks rose modestly, however, it shifted into positive territory from a decline last week from the week before.”
Footfall currently remains more than double the level last year at increases of 107.6% and 137.9% greater in high streets.
Top: Christmas shoppers were out in force last week, with high streets seeing the most footfall.
