Many retailers expected it to be one of, if not the busiest shopping day of the year as last-minute Christmas shoppers hit the UK’s high streets, but Super Saturday failed to deliver the expected footfall. According to the latest data from Sensormatic Solutions ShopperTrak Analytics, footfall on 20 December fell 6.9% year-on-year.
“As one of the ‘make or break’ days of Christmas trading, soft footfall performance on Super Saturday will have dealt a blow to retailers who would have been hoping to capitalise on trade,” said Andy Sumpter, EMEA retail consultant at Sensormatic Solutions.
It’s not all bad news for the retail sector. Although footfall fell below 2024 levels, Super Saturday still delivered a boost for retailers, as visits to stores increased 1.5% versus the week prior. Retail traffic in the week preceding Super Saturday was also up 11.2% compared to the previous week.
However, the slump year-on-year tracks with the ongoing consumer caution that has characterised Peak Trading this year. Sumpter pointed to this as the reason for the sluggish festive sales. “Throughout this year’s festive trading season, we’ve seen consumer caution cause spending hesitancy and upend usual demand patterns,” he said. “Shoppers are taking longer to validate purchases, with many still holding out and hoping that retailers may bring forward Boxing Day promotions pre-Christmas, as they did last year.”
He added that he expects footfall to rally in the final days before Christmas. “We expect the usual last-minute rush to be particularly pronounced, with shoppers leaving purchasing right up to the wire,” he said. Sensormatic’s data suggests that Tuesday 23 December will be the third busiest day of Peak Trading, with Boxing Day in fourth place.
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