Whilst retailers were pinning hopes on the so-called “Super-Saturday”, overall footfall fell by 0.7% on last year.
Last minute shoppers were expected to spend £1.38 billion on the Saturday before Christmas, according to the Centre for Retail Research.
Mark Bourgeois, UK & Ireland managing director at Hammerson, said: “There’s always an uptick in footfall at this time of the year, as shoppers start to worry about whether online orders will be delivered in time for the big day.”
Hopes were pinned on the weekend to boost retailers after a dismal year on the highs street.
Julie Palmer, a partner at insolvency firm Begbies Traynor, said: “As we near the end of the crucial festive period, with many retailers pinning their hopes on a final flurry of shopper activity this weekend as more are plunged into significant financial distress, to say 2018 has been a tumultuous year is something of an understatement.”
“Even online, which has been hailed as the future of the sector, is not immune,” she added.
This year, a number of retailers have fallen into administration or closed a number of stores with CVAs.
Big fallers of the year have been ASOS, whose shares recently crashed 40% following a profit warning issued amid the run-up to Christmas.
Profit warnings have also been issued by Primark, M&S, Bonmarche and Sports Direct.
Springboard’s insight director Diane Wehrle has said that people are spending less this Christmas.
“In the past year, wages didn’t increase with price rises,” she said.
“Now that has changed a bit, wage inflation is above price inflation, but the problem is consumers have had to spend a year funding that through savings, wages, loans or credit cards, so now they’re conscious they don’t want to spend too much as they have to pay back some of those loans.”
