Snap lunchtime statistics suggest Boxing Day footfall down 4.2 per cent

Footfall on the morning of the Boxing Day sales dropped 4.2 per cent on last year, according to initial figures, in yet another portentous signal for high street retailers.

In snap statistics from the morning’s trading, footfall dropped for the third consecutive year on 26 December, a traditional shopping day as shops reopen offering post-Christmas bargains.

Boxing Day appears to be losing its significance for shoppers, however, with footfall 10 per cent lower today than it was on Saturday 22 December, which was the peak trading day before Christmas this year.

Figures also showed 9.4 per cent fewer people took to the high streets than on Black Friday.

A snap report by retail tracker Springboard said part of the reason for the drop was the “almost continuous discounting” retailers have deployed in recent years during the period from Black Friday onwards.

The discounting “negates the reason to defer purchases to Boxing Day,” it added, “although clearly this is an opportunity or consumers to pick up items at an even lower price than before Christmas”.

Initial statistics are slightly better than expected, with Springboard last week projecting footfall would decline 5.2 per cent this Boxing Day.

With many retailers offering heavier discounts online than in-store, the stage is set for online sales to yet again grow in the face of high street despair.

Research by the Centre of Retail Research indicated as nearly 10m people would collectively spend £1.04bn online today, up 20 per cent on last year, with 45 per cent spent via mobile phones.

Many consumers visiting retail destinations today are doing so as part of a “wider leisure experience,” Springboard’s report added, with high street footfall only declining by 2.8 per cent, compared with 6.7 per cent in shopping centres.

Today’s figures will do little to bring post-Christmas cheer to the faltering retail industry, after poor showings on Black Friday and warnings by major traders about the future of their businesses.

One small consolation, however, is that the this year’s drop is less steep than last year’s, when footfall dropped by 5.6 per cent.