MONDAY 2 DECEMBER - Retail intelligence experts Springboard forecasts that UK footfall over the Christmas trading period from Sunday 24th November to Saturday 28th December 2019 will decline by -1.5% from the same five week period last year. This anticipated result, whilst remaining negative, is stronger than last year as it will be bolstered by footfall over the Black Friday weekend.
Diane Wehrle Insights Director at Springboard commented: “Footfall has declined in December in every year since 2012, and in all but one year since 2009, so it is unlikely to break the long term trend and increase this year. However, this is an improvement on the -2.6% drop in footfall last year, and reflects the positive impact that Black Friday had on last week’s footfall which was the first week of the month.”
Springboard anticipates a lull in footfall over the next couple of weeks as shoppers delay further significant purchases until immediately before Christmas in an effort to make the most of last minute discounting.
Springboard is expecting the busiest trading day before Christmas to be Saturday 21st December. Last year Saturday 22nd December had higher footfall than any bank holiday or key trading day over the year, and despite the 3.3% rise in footfall on Black Friday it is expected to exceed this figure.
Post-Christmas it is expected that footfall on 27th, 28th and 29th December will be higher than on Boxing Day, which historically was the key sales day. In 2018, footfall on each of these three days was a third higher than on Boxing Day as many consumers now initially search for bargains online before venturing to the stores themselves.