🛍️ Boxing Day sales have surged by more than half from last year despite the cost of living crisis hitting millions and rail strikes that have crippled travel plans
Millions of bargain hunters flocked to high streets and shopping malls from early this morning, with central London, a key retail hub, seeing footfall more than double on MondayBut footfall is still significantly down from pre-pandemic levels, with figures plunging by more than 30 per cent from 2019, the last year beforeIndustry analyst Springboard said by midday on Monday, their data showed footfall was higher across all three key destination types compared with the same period in 2021.
On high streets, it was up by 59.4 per cent, in shopping centres by 46.6 per cent, and in retail parks by 33.7 per cent. Footfall in central London rocketed by 139.2 per cent compared to last year’s Boxing Day, with the data firm suggesting negative impacts from industrial action on the railways had not materialised as expected.But Boxing Day footfall this year has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels, remaining 30.5 per cent lower than on December 26 in 2019.
This year’s figures come despite a fresh round of industrial action by rail workers left no trains running in the UK today, andDiane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said a likely factor in the increase was Boxing Day 2021 fell on a Sunday rather than a weekday, but added that the latest figures “provide real reason for optimism amongst retailers”.
She said: “Whilst the bounce back from the pandemic is a key reason for the increased footfall, a further boost to footfall is likely to have been provided by the fact that Boxing Day in 2021 was on a Sunday.
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