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Festive shopping in late flurry

25/12/2007

High streets up and down Britain saw a flurry of activity this weekend, as shoppers made last-minute preparations for Christmas.

Although many analysts remarked on the relatively subdued retail market throughout December, the figures for the last weekend before Christmas suggest Britons were putting their festive spending on hold, rather than downgrading their Christmas plans in light of the global credit crunch.

According to the Retail Traffic Index (RTI), shopping activity yesterday was up 23.1 per cent compared to the same Sunday last year.

Even accounting for the fact that Christmas Eve fell on Sunday in 2006, and many retailers therefore closed their doors early, the high street still appears to have enjoyed a last minute surge this year.

Analysts at SPSL say this view was compounded by RTI figures for Saturday, which were up 7.2 per cent on the year before.

Britons appear to have been relaxed about leaving their festive plans until the last minute this year, with the shops notably busier this weekend compared to earlier in December.

SPSL spokesman Dr Tim Denison said: "Last year the final weekend before Christmas was a wash-out. Everyone was expecting a last minute surge, but it simply failed to happen.

"The opposite is true this year: Saturday was a mega-day the busiest shopping day of the year so far.

"Whether it was on the back of concerns over whether postal deliveries of gifts bought on the internet would arrive, or simply that people had left more of their shopping until the last minute; hoping for prices to tumble, we can't say.

"It is true that the weekdays this last week were all disappointingly quiet, but the weekend results would have given back some comfort to retailers up and down the country."

Activity is only set to continue into the new year, with SPSL predicting many retailers will discount fashion, shoes, furniture and white goods.

Analysts are now predicting a bumper sale season.

Bargain hunters will start early this year, with December 27th already tipped to be the busiest sales day of the year, eclipsing the January sales.