Boxing Day sales: High Street suffers as shoppers stay home

Boxing Day shoppers stayed away from the High Street and shopping centres, compared with last year, footfall data suggests.

Data gathered by MRI Software showed footfall on UK high streets was down 6.2% on 2023, while shopping centres saw a 4.2% fall in visitors.

The figures are an early sign that online shopping continues to dominate the traditional Boxing Day sales.

Although many shops still expected to see brisk trade on Thursday, major retailers such as John Lewis, M&S and Next chose not to open the majority of their stores, saying they wanted to give their staff a break over the festive period.

One of those out shopping on Boxing Day, Lorna, was deal-hunting with her mother and sister in Liverpool.

She told BBC News this year is the first time she had decided to head out a bit later, arriving at Liverpool’s shopping district at 10:30.

“Me and mum come every Boxing Day. Normally we’re up and queuing at 5am, we’ve been here every year for the past 10 or 15 years but this is the first time we’ve been late,” she said.

Another shopper in Liverpool, Dave, joked that while he would not generally be out shopping on Boxing Day, he had made a deal with his wife.

“I’ll go shopping with her and she’ll come to the Liverpool match with me,” he said.

The data suggests in-store visits are 20.8% below pre-pandemic levels.

Overall Boxing Day activity levels were down 4.9% across all UK retail destinations, compared with 26 December last year.

Analysts have told BBC News that bricks-and-mortar stores are becoming less profitable as they are expensive to keep open due to rising energy costs and, for some, Bank Holiday overtime pay for staff.

Online shops are cheaper to operate and generally have fewer overheads.

MRI Software’s Jenni Matthews said a year-on-year rise in footfall is anticipated from 27 December.

But she added that this year’s fall in shoppers on Boxing Day was a “major contrast” with 2023, when footfall was 4% higher than the previous year.

“This could be reflective of the shift in consumer behaviour influenced by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis,” she said.

Sales volumes in clothing stores recently fell to their lowest level since January 2022, according to ONS figures, with retailers saying economic factors were to blame.

UK retail parks, which often offer free parking and are more suited to bigger shops, fared slightly better, seeing only a 2.9% fall in visits compared with last year.

In many ways Boxing Day is no longer a major shopping event in itself, as it was in the past.

Many retailers begin their sales online on Christmas Eve and brands are also spreading promotions throughout the year, including around Black Friday in November.

“Boxing Day has lost its shine,” said Natalie Berg from NBK Retail, who suggested the decision by major retailers to remain closed could help them with recruitment.

She also believes shoppers had “promotion fatigue”.

“When you consider that some Black Friday deals began on Halloween this year, which is the earliest I’ve ever seen, it’s no surprise that we’re all shopped out by Boxing Day,” she said.

Diane Wehrle, analyst at Rendle Intelligence and Insights, said that amongst those who do choose to visit places on Boxing Day, the emphasis has shifted to spending on things to do, rather than things to buy.

She added that shopping habits have been changing for more than a decade as more consumers choose to shop online.

Barclays, which says it sees nearly 40% of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, forecasts that Brits will spend a combined total of £4.6bn on Boxing Day, compared with £4.7bn spent in 2023.

It says it expects the lion’s share of spending to be online – similar to 2023, when 63.9% of Boxing Day retail purchases were online, according to the bank’s data.