Breakfast briefing: Retail news on high street sales and Amazon

High streets bounce back on Boxing Day

Shoppers looking for bargains flocked to the high streets in the post Christmas period this year.

For the first time this festive season, consumers preferred bricks and mortar stores to online shopping as spending hit £1.75bn on Bank Holiday Monday.

According to footfall specialist Springboard, shopper numbers soared 11.7% on Boxing Day.

Amazon sees rise in Prime customers

The number of shoppers signed up to Amazon Prime increased by three million in the third week of December.

The etail giant said more than 200 million items were shipped for “free” as part of Prime.

Amazon founder and boss Jeff Bezos said: “This was another great holiday season to be a Prime member, and we welcomed three million new members in the third week of December alone.”