Christmas shopping stutters, but still on track for a busier December than last year: Synovate Study

The latest footfall figures released by Synovate for the full week commencing 4th December 2011, show that shopper numbers across the UK were 2.7% down on the same week last year, but 2.4% stronger than the week before.

"After a busy start to the Christmas campaign at the end of November, last week's figures will be a slight setback for retailers," explains Dr Tim Denison, Director at Synovate Retail Performance. "We would normally expect to see footfall swell by about 6% over the previous week at this stage of the run up to Christmas, so growth of 2.4% last week is disappointing. However, the week before was a strong one, boosted by striking public sector workers who took the opportunity to Christmas shop, so figures over the fortnight are still ahead of last year, by +2.9%."

Looking at the regional splits for last week, the hurricane force gales certainly hit retail footfall hard in Scotland and Northern Ireland. There, shopper numbers for the week were 15.4% down on the previous year; people clearly heeding the "stay at home' advise. The brightest part of the country for w/c 4th December was London & South East England, where shopper numbers were 9.0% higher than the same week of last year and 6.9% busier than the previous week.

"It strikes me that after such a hard year, people are determined to make the most of Christmas 2011", comments Denison. "That doesn't mean they are indulging on the carefree credit spending sprees seen only a few years ago. Instead shoppers are putting a lot of extra effort in to make it a special Christmas without spending beyond their means. Everything is shaping up for 2011 to be a Christmas of "responsible shopping'. With a fortnight still to go, and Christmas Eve falling on a Saturday this year, the month shaping up to be a solid one for retailing."

Synovate is scheduled to release its next set of RTI figures on Wednesday 21st December.