‘Last hurrah’ for retailers as Boxing Day footfall rose by 50 per cent

The number of shoppers hitting the high street on Boxing Day has improved as compared to last year’s Covid-hit Christmas – but are still well below levels seen before the pandemic.

According to shopper tracking agency Springboard, there had been a 50 per cent rise in shopper numbers out on Monday (26) compared with Boxing Day last year, when the Omicron variant of Covid-19 prompted many to stay at home. However, footfall remained 30.5 per cent down on 2019 levels.

Diane Wehrle, the insights director at Springboard, said sunny weather had helped tempt more shoppers out than she had expected in what she thought was “a bit of a last hurrah” before reining in spending because of the cost of living crisis next year.

She said that the bounce back from last year was likely to have been assisted by Boxing Day falling on a Monday compared with a Sunday last year, when a number of large chains chose to remain closed while others reduced trading hours.

“Footfall has undoubtedly been helped by the calm and sunny weather, which will have encouraged consumers to make trips out. These results provide real reason for optimism among retailers, as they coincide with another rail strike and the underlying challenge of the cost of living crisis,” Wehrle said.

In central London, footfall more than doubled on last year – up 139 per cent – but it was down 22 per cent on 2019. Large queues formed outside the Selfridges department store on Oxford Street from as early as 8am.

Dee Corsi, the chief executive of the New West End Company, the trade body that represents retailers and other businesses in central London, said trading remained “resilient”.

“The first restriction-free festive season in three years saw footfall get the closest it’s ever been to pre-pandemic levels, with visitors from across the country making their way into the capital to make the most of all the West End has to offer.

“While I’m heartened to see that the West End’s recovery has continued during a busy festive season, the district would have performed much better if public transport was running as normal. We still have a lot of work to do to recover fully from the pandemic losses, and I’m naturally concerned that the latest proposed rail strikes will dampen optimism and prevent further progress,” The Guardian quoted Corsi as saying.

The better-than-expected number of shoppers out and about comes despite predictions that spending will be down by about 4 per cent to almost £3.8bn on Boxing Day, according to analysts at GlobalData for Vouchercodes.

A slowdown in spending would pile more pressure on retailers already suffering from a lacklustre winter hit by transport and postal strikes, snow and rising bills for energy and food that have reduced spare cash for spending on presents and treats.