Retailers in Britain have warned of price rises and shop closures after enduring “disastrous” Christmas trading as households battle with cost of living pressures, data suggests.
Early evidence of the performance of UK retail in the final full week of trading before Christmas shows that retail footfall was down 11.4 per cent on last year, according to Rendle Intelligence and Insights.
On “Super Saturday”, the final Saturday before Christmas Day and typically the peak shopping day of the year, footfall was only 4.1 per cent higher than the previous Saturday and only 0.9 per cent higher than the same Saturday a year earlier.
Black Friday footfall was 5.5 per cent higher than last year, suggesting that consumers took the opportunity to buy discounted gifts.
Diane