LONDON, (Reuters) – Footfall in British stores for Boxing Day, the UK’s Boxing Day public holiday, rose from last year, particularly in London, research data showed.
Research group MRI Software (formerly Springboard) reported footfall up 4% across all retail outlets in Britain on December 26.
Stores in central London saw the highest footfall, with MRI Software estimating that footfall increased by 10.6%, likely due to the influx of holiday tourists.
Overall, the number of shoppers remained lower than before the pandemic, with footfall 14.9% lower than 2019 levels.
“Many people may be tightening their purse strings due to the cost of living, or they may still be spending time with family on Boxing Day and not heading to stores and destinations until later within the week,” said Jenni Matthews, director of marketing and analytics at MRI.
For all retail sales, including online and in-store, analysis by GlobalData for internet marketing service VoucherCodes estimated a 2.9% fall on Boxing Day to £3.68 billion (4.23 billion euros).
For the entire week of December 25 to 31, GlobalData anticipates a drop of 3.8%.
However, sales during the pre-Christmas period increased compared to last year. Data from Mastercard, which measures in-store and online retail sales, shows a 2.6% increase in sales value year-over-year for the period November 1 to December 24. (Muvija M report, French version Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)
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