Boxing Day Footfall Grows In The U.K. But Inflation Still Weighs Heavy

UK retailers saw a 50% increase in store traffic for the annual Boxing Day sales compared to 2021 according to Springboard, the shopper tracking agency.

Even with this increase, footfall remained 30.5% lower than 2019 levels.

Last year Boxing Day sales were subdued as the Omnicron strain of Coronavirus prompted many shoppers to stay at home.

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

On the 27th of December, this optimism continued with a further rise in footfall for retailers with Springboard announcing that footfall was up by a further 36.6% compared to Boxing Day, despite this being the traditional discount shopping day in the UK.

Sadly for retailers though this level was still 25% lower than pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019.

Many retailers though had anticipated a worse period of trading due to the cost of living crisis and continued disruption caused by transport and logistics strikes in the UK.

Whilst this news is promising for retailers Springboard sounded a word of warning with the belief that this shopping splurge might be ‘a bit of a last hurrah’ before belts are tightened in January as energy bills arrive and the cost of living crisis continues.

This was backed up by research from Barclaycard who predicted that the average person would spend £229 in post-Christmas sales, £18 less than last year.

The credit card firm discovered, via a survey of 2,000 potential shoppers, that 42% were reducing their spending the higher cost of living being the core driver in their decision-making.

However, 30% also said they had held off treating themselves, family and friends over the past few months and would use the post-Christmas sales to make up for it.

Harshna Cayley, the head of online payments at Barclaycard Payments, said: “The rising cost of living and inflationary pressures have naturally had an impact on the amount being spent in the post-Christmas sales this year. Having said that, retailers can take confidence knowing shoppers still plan to make the most of the deals and discounts on offer.”

The full results of the vital Christmas period will only be clear in the weeks ahead, with some industry experts fearful of a wave of high street retailers entering administration.