Brits get organised: Last-minute shopper numbers fall again

The number of in-person shoppers has dropped on Christmas Eve amid Sunday trading hours and the cost of living crisis.

Footfall across all UK retail destinations up to 5pm on Sunday was 6.8% lower than last week, and 20.6% lower than December 24 2022, data from industry analyst MRI Software shows.

The data showed footfall remains at least a third lower than 2019 levels, with a number of factors contributing including Sunday trading hours this year and the cost of living crisis, experts said.

Jenni Matthews, head of marketing and insights at MRI Software, said: “As Christmas Eve progressed, footfall diminished across all destination types week-on-week, and year-on-year.

“Footfall was 6.8% lower week-on-week up until 5pm today and 20.6% lower than 2022 across all UK retail destinations.

“Compared to 2019 levels, footfall remains at least a third lower with a number of factors contributing to this; Sunday trading hours are in operation today which is likely to limit retail trade, and the cost of living crisis has impacted many this year which means consumers are likely to have spread the cost of Christmas and started shopping earlier.

“Footfall levels across all destination types, week-on-week, hit its peak on Wednesday (+17%), Thursday (+18.9%) and Friday (+18.7%) ahead of the big getaway on Friday and Saturday this year.”

Retail parks saw the only week-on-week footfall rise up to 5pm, with a 6.7% rise, while the figure dropped for both high streets and shopping centres by 14.8% and 3.0% respectively.

Annually, retail parks, high streets and shopping centres all saw a drop in footfall, to 14.8%, 20.4% and 26.6%.

Press Association