Sales surge pours water on doommongers

Shop owners are celebrating today following a hike in trade over the weekend, suggesting predictions of a festive sales downturn may not come true.

Millions of customers piled into stores around the UK on Saturday and Sunday, the last weekend before Christmas.

Analysts had forecast a poor festive season for retail takings but with shop owners reporting a bumper two days it suggests most consumers are leaving gift buying to the last minute in the hope of picking up bargains.

Many stores have begun their post-Christmas price promotions early which experts say had a key role to play in the weekend's sales hike.

Research group FootFall, which tracks the amount of shoppers entering stores, said numbers were up 2.6% on Saturday compared to the same day last year.

One area benefiting was Oxford Street in central London which was closed to traffic on Saturday in an effort to push up sales.

Half a million people took advantage of the car-free streets, up from the normal volume of around 300,000 visitors.

Natasha Burton, marketing manager at FootFall, said: "This year retailers seem to have done this job well in the preceding weeks with flash promotions and targeted sales and are now relying on the usual last minute rush of shoppers in the last few days before Christmas.

"This give retailers and the shoppers plenty of time to help sales volumes increase in line with expectations."

FootFall's positive attitude was echoed in a report released today by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

It predicted total retail sales in December will reach a record high of £28bn with the average household spending £1,085, up from £1,067 last year.

CEBR added however that with better than expected sales, retailers will have less unsold stock on their shelves leaving less offers for the bargain-hunters on Boxing Day.