Retailers are resorting to discounts of up to 50 per cent to entice Christmas shoppers as festive sales stagnate.
Figures by Ipsos, seen exclusively by The Times, show that the number of people heading to the high street fell by 13 per cent last week compared with the same period last year.
Even accounting for more people buying gifts online, the fall is well ahead of analysts’ expectations; Ipsos was predicting a decline of 2.2 per cent this month.
The only retailers to publish December sales figures so far are John Lewis and Waitrose, and both are struggling. Sales at the department store chain were down by 2 per cent last week compared with the same period last year despite a £6 million advertising blitz. Waitrose is faring better but still saw sales slip 0.1 per cent.
High street chains have responded by slashing prices, with clothing and shoe shops offering the best deals.
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Hobbs, Gap and Jaeger are all offering up to half off and L.K. Bennett up to 40 per cent off. Selfridges is offering 30 per cent off shoes and Monsoon 30 per cent off party clothes.
Other shops are giving discounts through voucher codes. Debenhams is offering 10 per cent off orders above £30 and the Early Learning Centre is offering 20 per cent off online.
Tim Denison, of Ipsos, said: “People seem nervous about what will happen in the new year. There is strong footfall in some sectors, such as toys and traditional gifting, but sectors where shoppers are buying for themselves is where we expect to see the greatest softening.” It comes after a strong performance last month, with sales up by 5.9 per cent compared with the same month last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Retailers blamed the “Black Friday effect” with people either doing their Christmas shopping earlier to grab bargains or leaving it until later.
A spokesman for John Lewis said its sales figures showed “the different shape” of trade over the Christmas period marked by the “peaks of Black Friday and the final week of December”.
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Analysts also said it was too early to write off Christmas. Nick Bubb, a consultant, said: “Christmas Day is later in the week this year — it is on Sunday — so people will feel it is still quite early. Expect men to be roaming the beauty halls of Selfridges on Christmas Eve yet.”
