Footfall on the high street has fallen in recent days despite an initial flurry of spending on Boxing Day.

The number of shoppers on New Year’s Day fell 25.3% on last year according to provisional figures from Experian Footfall seen by The Daily Telegraph.

Figures showed shopper numbers fell 2.5% on New Year’s Eve and, while the slump the following day was in part due to Sunday trading hours, numbers for New Year’s Day were 10% down on two years ago.

Shopper numbers rose marginally by 0.75% across last week following a rush into stores on Boxing Day.

Online sales were flat for Boxing Day 2011 against 2010 but more likely to be completed via a mobile device, and shoppers bought fewer, more highly priced items, according to IBM.

Anita Manan, senior analyst at FootFall, said “it’s not looking good for January” and that even 75% discounts have failed to attract shoppers.

Christmas performance will become clearer this week with a number of large-scale retailers set to post Christmas trading updates including John Lewis, Next and Clinton Cards.

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