Natasha Burton Quotations

Shoppers really took advantage of the holiday days this year and early bird bargains were the watchword of the week. Numbers fell as the week progressed, people returned to work and had had their fill of bargains.

Overall, 2005 saw higher numbers of shoppers on the High Street than in 2004, though this camouflages what was a challenging second half of the year for most retailers.

The quiet Christmas Eve seems to suggest that consumers treated Saturday and Sunday as their rest days and that the savvy shopper is now back out shopping with a vengeance.

Once the online deadline has passed and schools break up for Christmas, then we will get shoppers out for last-minute bits and pieces.

Despite the fantastically busy first two shopping days after Christmas, normality seems to have returned with shopper numbers falling.

There is this psychological game. It has not been a pre-Christmas sale this year, it's been 'special offers'. Encouraging people to shop earlier helps stores with stock and planning. It means there is not so much to be drastically cut in the last week.