Shoppers 'desert January sales'

Figures released today by information services company Experian, confirm that Christmas 2007 was a slower one for retailers with national Footfall Index figures revealing that 2.3% less people visited shopping centres and city stores in December 2007 compared to December 2006.

However, a late rally of shoppers in the final weeks before Christmas resulted in the overall footfall figure for 2007 ending slightly ahead of 2006, with 0.2% more people visiting stores in 2007.

Experian’s Property Services Division has revealed that the final week of the year (week commencing December 24) was the only week in December 2007 to experience more shoppers than its corresponding week in December 2006.

Signalling the traditional start of post Christmas Sales, bargain hungry shoppers were out in force with 2.8% more people shopping in the days following Christmas 2007 than in 2006.

However, the increase in shopping numbers was short lived with footfall for the first full shopping week of 2008 down 2.4% when compared to the first week in January 2007.