According to retail experts Springboard, the full day results for Boxing Day reveal footfall was +38.8% higher than in 2021. With an increase of +50.1% up to 12pm, the overall result reveals how much better footfall was on Boxing Day morning this year compared with Boxing Day last year; this is in line with Springboard’s expectation that the uplift in footfall would taper off as the day progressed.

The uplift in footfall from last year remained greater in high streets and shopping centres than in retail parks over the day as a whole (+44.1% in high streets, +40.4% in shopping centres and +25.9% in retail parks).

In retail parks, the greatest increase in footfall from last year occurred in  the largest parks, where it was +37.2% higher than in 2021 compared with an increase of +19.2% in the smallest parks.

It was clear that Central London was much busier on Boxing Day morning this year than in 2021, with an increase in footfall from 2021 of +139.2% up to 12pm. Over the day as a whole, however, footfall in Central London was +66% higher than on Boxing Day in 2021. The really positive news for Central London was that footfall was just -7.8% lower on Boxing Day this year than Boxing Day 2019.

Footfall on Boxing Day 2022 ended up being -18.2% lower than Boxing Day in 2019 across all UK retail destinations, indicating that Boxing Day afternoon this year was busier than in 2019.  This occurred across all three destination types, but particularly in high streets where the gap from the 2019 footfall level yesterday contracted from -25.3% up to 12pm to -11.9% over the day as a whole.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard, comments: “Boxing Day was far from doom and gloom this year; there was a better performance on Boxing Day morning with a +50.1% increase in footfall, however footfall remained strong overall, with a +38.8% increase across the UK versus 2021.

These positive results come in line with the first Christmas post-pandemic without any formal social restrictions and in spite of the cost of living crisis and the rail strikes, which inevitably affect retailers negatively.

High streets came out on top overall with a +44.1% increase, while Central London defied all expectations with an overall climb in footfall of +66%, decreasing the gap from pre-pandemic 2019 Boxing Day levels to just -7.8%, which comes as very welcome and promising news for retailers in the capital.”