Online retailers and couriers are experiencing a 17% surge in late gift deliveries as visits to the high street collapse by 25% amid Omicron concerns, according to research from ParcelHero.
“The arrival of Omicron is nightmare timing for high street retailers, with the retail analyst Springboard revealing a 25% plummet in the number of visitors to the High Street on Sunday, compared to the last Sunday before Christmas in 2019,” said ParcelHero’s head of consumer research, David Jinks.
“It’s heart-breaking,” he continued. “Things had been looking so rosy for town centre stores this season, with a 10.8% rise in the value of sales as recently as last month.”
