Shoppers hit the Boxing Day 2024 sales at London’s Oxford Street on Thursday, despite reports of footfall being down across all UK destinations in comparison with 2023.

Boxing Day footfall was down 9.4 percent across all UK retail destinations by 12pm in comparison with last year, MRI Software’s OnLocation Footfall Index found.

This came after Barclays forecast that shoppers would spend £236 each on average in the Boxing Day sales this year, but that the majority of purchases would be made online.

Footfall had fallen by 10.2 percent on UK high streets, 6.8 percent at retail parks and 10.1 percent in shopping centres by 12pm on Boxing day compared with 2023, MRI found.

This year marks the first drop in Boxing Day retail footfall recorded by MRI Software since before the pandemic.