November footfall from Experian
Published: 19 January, 2012
Shopper activity during December increased by 3 per cent compared to December 2012 driven by retailers’ promotions and heavy discounting. The positive growth was an expected result given the adverse weather conditions of snow throughout the UK during the same month last year.
The pensions strike in December saw public sector workers and others who took the day off work to care for their children use the spare time to shop with a 38 per cent increase in footfall recorded compared to the same day in 2010.
The UK National FootFall Index has been consistently lagging behind 2010, reporting levels down by around -2 per cent to -3 per cent.
With increased internet shopping from computers and smartphones, the traditional six-week seasonal shopping period on the High Street has largely been replaced with a last minute rush pre and post Christmas with shoppers taking advantage of in-store promotions.
As the year ended, December’s results showed a year-on-year growth for week 51 increasing by 11.7 per cent compared to the same week last year.
The outlook for January remains worrying when we consider that the growth in footfall for December was largely due to an underperformance last year.
However the first challenge for retailers’ in this austere environment will be to hold consumer interest past the spring stock turnaround, as reality kicks in and consumers find themselves back at work and facing the first credit card bills of the year.
