It’s a nervous time for many retailers wondering whether a big-spending last-minute Christmas rush materialises to improve their top and bottom lines.

But while consumer footfall on the final full trading week before Christmas (Sunday-Saturday, 15-21 December) rose for the second consecutive week across all UK retail destinations, levels were still considerably lower than for the same week last year, reports retail tech specialists MRI Software.

Retail parks and shopping centres lead the way as overall footfall rose 4.6% week-on-week in all UK retail destinations, led by retail parks (+8.5%), shopping centres (+7.8%) and high streets (+1.3%).

The momentum carried into the weekend for retail parks where footfall rose 9.2%, however shopping centres and high streets saw a decline of -0.5% and -11.6%, respectively.

But with an extra couple of days to play with this week, it could suggest that shoppers are (hopefully) holding off until Monday (23 December) and part of Christmas Eve to secure those last minute gifts and groceries.

The report noted that that final full week before Christmas was still a working one for many and its likely festive gatherings were still taking place. 

“With many retail parks and shopping centres now offering a leisure element to their offering, much of the boost in footfall may well be a combination of shopping and leisure”.

Footfall remained strong throughout the week with Thursday and Friday seeing double-digit week-on-week growth in retail parks and shopping centres.

High streets, on the other hand, saw steady rises daily, but significant declines were recorded over the weekend, “much of this is likely to be footfall stabilising following the significant rebound last week from Storm Darragh in the week prior”, the report noted.
 
Market towns and Greater London saw the greatest week-on-week rises however all town types failed to surpass annual levels “which could be a sign that many more people were still working compared to last year, not finishing until Friday”. 

Regionally, Eastern parts of the UK were the clear winners with the South East, East of England and East Midlands experiencing strong week on week growth.