UK Christmas FootFall Indices

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27th December 2012 – Boxing Day footfall up on last year.

There is a quiet optimism on the High Street with footfall up 0.64% on last year’s Boxing Day trade.

24th December 2012 – Footfall is up for the last shopping weekend before Christmas (22nd & 23rd December)

The Preliminary Weekend year-on-year percentage changes showing an indication to the performance of the Weekend of 22^nd and 23^rd  December 2012 (Week  51 2012), are as below:

The table below shows the year-on-year percentage changes for 22^nd and 23^rd December 2012 against the last full shopping weekend in 2011 (17^th and 18^th December) to allow a more equitable comparison

The year-on-year increase for the weekend is only indicated for one day with for Saturday 22^nd 2012  V  Saturday 24^th 2011 showed a 22% increase year-on-year.  We will publish a like for like comparison for Christmas Eve on Christmas Day.

To provide a more true comparison of change we have compared the last full shopping weekend of 2011, where we see an average increase of 11.5% year-on-year.  Saturday had an increase of 10.7% and Sunday an increase of 12.9%.

Week-on-week continues to see a steady increase with an average of 10.2% represented by 10.4% on Saturday and 9.8% on Sunday.  This increase hopefully reflects the forecasted £5bn spend over these 2 days that retailers were expecting.  We will see if Christmas Eve spending lives up to the forecast of £1.3bn as it is believed that more than 1/3 of shoppers have left some gift shopping until Christmas Eve.

Mid Week Slide is No Surprise  (17th to 19th December)

The year-on-year change for week commencing 17^th December is an average decline of 16.0% for the first three days. Monday’s figure was down by 13.6% year-on-year, whilst Tuesday and Wednesday showed a decline of 16.2% and 18.1% respectively.  At initial viewing, the results would suggest a stark under performance compared with last year’s figure. However, as Christmas fell on a Sunday last year, the same dates in 2011 would have presented consumers with their final opportunity to shop for the big day. This year in contrast, we have another full weekend for shopping remaining.

We also see a very positive week-on-week change as we approach the last few days of Christmas shopping.  We are already seeing some significant discounting on the high street with some retailers offering reductions of 50% and above.  The midweek average of 14.1% is reflective of the anticipated uplift in footfall in this last week before Christmas. Monday showed a week-on-week increase of 11.5%, with Tuesday and Wednesday achieving growth of 15.7% and 15.2% respectively.

Whopper Weekend (15th & 16th December)

The year-on-year performance for the weekend shows an average increase of 1.5%.  Saturday was up 0.3% and Sunday achieved a very positive 3.5% year-on-year climb.  The weekend dramatically outperformed the previous week which had presented a disappointing 5.5% decrease year-on-year.  This could partly be due to the torrential rain on Friday stopping consumers venturing out and boosting the weekend figures. Indeed Friday showed a reduction of 11% on the previous year.

We also saw a promising week-on-week increase of 8.6% for the weekend average.  Saturday showed an increase of 4.5% and Sunday an increase of 16.4%.  With only one full weekend left before Christmas the figures from Sunday 16^th would indicate that the Christmas rush to our traditional shopping venues has finally begun.

 Year-on-Year Gap Widens at Midweek (10th to 13th December 2012)

The year-on-year change for week commencing 10^th December is an average decline of 5.1% for the first three days.  Monday was down by 5.3% year-on-year, Tuesday and Wednesday were down by 3.4% and 6.7% respectively.

This week again shows a positive change week-on-week as we move ever nearer to Christmas, with a midweek average of 4.7%. Monday showed an increase of 5.6% with growth levels reducing on Tuesday and Wednesday to 4.1 % and 4.5% respectively.

It would appear that consumers are now fully embracing online shopping with the UK leading the world in the average value each consumer spends online.  There are also some positive signs for offline retail. Consumers face recent reports of a rise in employment, the highest figures since records began in 1971.  Some high street retailers have already begun to discount in store and as online guaranteed Christmas delivery dates are fast approaching we could see a sharper increase in high street footfall.

Footfall grows and another two weekends to go (8th to 9th December 2012)

FootFall Weekend Index (17th & 18th)

The year-on-year change for the weekend was an average of -5.3%. Both Saturday and Sunday showed a decline with -5.8% for Saturday and -4.2% for Sunday.  The Weekly Index also shows a decline of -3.8% year-on-year, with the press reporting poor sales in October and Comet going into administration the anticipated Christmas uplift could not come sooner. In contrast we see a week-on-week increase of 1.8% for the weekend average, Saturday showing an increase of 0.5% and Sunday an increase of 4.5%.  This rise on Sunday could indicate a more positive start to the Christmas Shopping period. The cold and bright weather over much of the country for the weekend, especially Sunday could account for the increase in week on week figures along with the steady build up to Christmas.   Retailers will be hoping that the phenomenon of ‘Manic Monday’  (Monday 19th November) will be reflected in  week 47’s figures where traditionally record on-line sales are experienced as consumers place their online orders in time for pre-Christmas delivery.