Boxing Day sales washout as shoppers opt to stay dry

Worst high street footfall in 10 years is recorded as online Christmas Day purchases pass £1billion

BOXING DAY sales yesterday suffered the biggest drop in high street footfall in a decade.

Queues failed to materialise as people stayed at home, with 10.6 per cent fewer than last year braving dreary weather to get to the shops. High streets recorded a 13.6 per cent drop in footfall, as against 8.8 per cent in shopping centres and 5.9 per cent in retail parks.

The decline was blamed on the rise of online shopping, Black Friday and the poor weather and came as experts predicted sales from online purchases on Christmas Day would top £1billion for the first time.

Diane Wehrle, a director at Springboard, a customer profiling agency, said: “This result reflects a number of changes in how consumers shop. Boxing Day is indisputably a less important trading day than it once was.”

Prof Joshua Bamfield, of the Centre for Retail Research, said: “Websites are stealing a march over shops by starting sales online, with shoppers buying on Christmas Day to make sure they get the best price.”

Boxing Day hunts also suffered due to the weather with lower spectator attendance as rain battered Britain, and some traditional Boxing Day dips in the sea were cancelled. Usually, about 500 people attend the hunt at Bolton’s Bench, Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, but organisers this year reported just 100. Organisers of the Hadleigh Hunt in Suffolk said numbers were down from 2,000 to 650.

Sea swims off Sidmouth and Seaton in East Devon were both cancelled.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency urged people to be vigilant because further flooding was possible as groundwater levels continued to rise after rainfall in the south of England and in North Lincolnshire. Nationwide there were 30 flood warnings (flooding expected) and 88 flood alerts (flooding possible) yesterday.

Clare Dinnis, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said: “While the weather outlook is improving, groundwater levels continue to rise after recent rainfall meaning that there is a continued risk of groundwater flooding in parts of southern England.

“We continue to monitor rainfall and river levels closely and to operate our flood defences, reducing the risk of flooding to thousands of homes and businesses and helping to keep people safe. Our pumps also remain in place in Somerset where our focus is on reducing levels of water on Currymoor.

“Around 100 properties have flooded since Thursday, but over 18,500 properties have been protected by flood defences across England. We advise people to sign up for flood warnings, stay away from swollen rivers and not drive through flood water – just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.”