According to recent research by Springboard, British retailers are experiencing a decline in footfall this holiday season. Footfall of shoppers in British high-street stores has fallen 8.9% lower YoY while across all retail stores, footfall has declined by 7.8% on an annualized basis. Christmas Eve footfall was also 6% lower than in the previous day.

Springboard observes, “Footfall today in retail parks has been slightly more resilient than that in high streets and shopping centres, with a decline of -3% from yesterday, versus drops of -7.4% in high streets and -5.8% in shopping centre.”

2019 has been a difficult year for several retailers across Britain on account of mounting worries about Brexit as well as external risks such as the trade war and overall slowdown in the global economy. Despite the Brexit Bill being cleared, the mood in Britain fails to have been lifted even though pre-Christmas sales will deliver better numbers in December than in the previous month.