There is disappointing news for high street shops as the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reports a 2.2% fall in footfall for December, compared with a year earlier.
That is slightly better than the 4.5% drop in November but will provide little comfort to the shops that had been hoping for an end-of-year rebound during the all-important Christmas shopping season.
Figures from the BRC show that shopping centres were the hardest hit, followed by high street shops.
High street footfall decreased by 2.7% in December (year on year), up from -3.7% in November.
Shopping centre footfall decreased by 3.3% in December (year on year), up from -6.1% in November.
Retail park footfall was unchanged at 0% in December (year on year), up from -1.1% in November.
Overall, it means that fourth quarter footfall was down 2.5%, leaving full-year 2024 footfall down 2.2% compared with 2023.
Although footfall is not an accurate guide to potential sales because of the boom in online shopping, it will add to the anxiety about how retailers performed.
The BRC’s chief executive, Helen Dickinson, said: "A drab December which saw fewer shoppers in all locations, capped a disappointing year for UK retail footfall. This means 2024 is the second year in a row where footfall has been in decline.
"High streets and shopping centres were hit particularly hard throughout the year as people veered towards retail parks to take advantage of free parking and the variety of larger stores.
"Even the golden quarter, typically the peak of shopping activity, provided little relief, with footfall down over the period.
"While the Black Friday weekend delivered more promising results, they were overshadowed by a lacklustre festive season."
Markets have opened for trading and we have got a mixed picture across Europe.
The FTSE 100 is flat, France’s Cac 40 is down 0.2%, Spain’s Ibex is up 0.1%, Germany’s Dax is flat and Italy’s FTSE MIB is down 0.35%.
The agenda • 8.55am GMT: Germany unemployment for December • 9.30am GMT: UK mortgage approvals, net mortgage lending, consumer credit for November • 1.30pm GMT: US ISM manufacturing index for December
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