Last Saturday before Christmas is not so super for retailers
RETAILERS HOPING for a Super Saturday of sales on the last weekend before Christmas were disappointed as the number of people in shops fell significantly compared with last year.
On Saturday, there was 6.2 per cent reduction in footfall in shops against the equivalent Saturday last year, according to research firm Ipsos.
Data from fellow retail researcher Springboard pointed to an even steeper decline, as it reported a 7.6 per cent slump against the equivalent Saturday in 2018.
Ipsos said that footfall on Super Saturday was up 5.5 per cent against the previous Saturday, with a particular rise at department stores.
It said jewellers were also popular with last-minute Christmas shoppers, as they reported an 18 per cent increase in footfall against the Saturday a week earlier.
Tim Denison, director of retail intelligence at Ipsos Retail Performance, said: “Super Saturday was not as super as many non-food retailers would have
wished for. However, with one extra shopping day before Christmas Day than last year we hadn’t expected Saturday to be quite so busy, and so it transpired.
“For the month as a whole, our minus 6.1 per cent year-on-year forecast for store footfall still looks on track – a result that many retailers would happily take at the end of such a torrid year.”
Trading for the past week – from Sunday December 15 to Saturday December 21 – was also down on the same period a year earlier.