Boxing Day shopper footfall down a fifth on last year, figures suggest

The rise earlier in the day had been driven by a 6.5 per cent increase in high street visitors, it said.

The only town to experience a rise compared to last year was central London, where footfall was 12.9 per cent higher.

Week on week, footfall was 32.9 per cent lower across all high street, retail park and shopping centre destinations.

Compared to 2019, footfall was 33.8 per cent lower, as the continued rise of online shopping, the close proximity of Black Friday and the cost-of-living crisis further deterred shoppers.

Jenni Matthews, marketing and insights director at MRI Software, said: “It was encouraging to see Boxing Day footfall rise year on year by 2.3 per cent across all UK retail destinations up until 3pm, however it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap between the figures last year in 2022.

“The footfall drop of 32.9 per cent week on week across all destination types is not surprising given that last week consumers were finalising their festive shopping.

“The fact that compared to 2019 levels, footfall remains down 33.8 per cent indicates the long-term impacts of the continued rise of online shopping, as many consumers may have started their sale shopping on Christmas Day evening, and with Black Friday only a few weeks ago many will have grabbed their bargains back then.

“We also can’t forget that many people may be tightening their purse strings given the cost-of-living status, or may still be spending time with their families on Boxing Day and not be heading out to stores and destinations until later in the week.

“Therefore, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the week pans out for retail as we close out 2023.”

Over recent months, consumer sentiment has been affected by the cost of living crisis.