Friday fever gives high streets a boost

Published on Monday 5 January 2009 20:20

SHOPPERS fought off the cold weather and economic gloom last weekend to hit the high street in greater numbers than last year, new figures have revealed.

Over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the number of people out looking for bargains in the post-Christmas sales was up 2.7 per cent on the same period in 2008.

The figures, compiled by Experian FootFall, showed that, although shopper numbers were down 3.9 per cent on Saturday and by 5.2 per cent on Sunday, they were up a bumper 14.4 per cent on Friday.

Experian said the fact that New Year's Day fell on a Thursday may have shifted the normal weekend shopping pattern, with many people taking Friday off work to hit the sales and keeping the weekend free.

While the high footfall will encourage retailers, it will not necessarily translate into greater revenue, with shops forced to slash prices to lure customers through the doors, Experian warned.

British Retail Consortium spokesman Richard Dodd said: "Our impression is that the initial flurry of spending that happened with the start of the post-Christmas sales is now fizzling out.

"Customers may have been persuaded to come out in large numbers but the picture is not rosy at all.

"While footfall is important, what actually matters is how much customers are spending and the extent to which retailers are having to discount to generate that spending."