Retailers across Manchester city centre saw sales rocket last weekend as many stores extended their opening hours for the first ever late night Eid shopping event.
Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, is typically one of the busiest shopping periods of the year with gifts often exchanged as part of the celebration.
And the event, which took place on Friday July 25 and Saturday July 26, saw shops such as House of Fraser, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges stay open till 9pm, boosting their profits considerably.
House of Fraser reported a 76% year on year increase across childrenswear and a 26% spend uplift in menswear.
Meanwhile, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols also enjoyed a hike in menswear sales seeing a 17% and an 8% increase respectively.
Jane Sharrocks, General Manager of Selfridges in Exchange Square and Chair of the Heart of Manchester Business Improvement District (BID) which coordinated the late night shopping event, believes the event can only continue to grow.
“It’s great to see stores across the BID area working collaboratively to put on a new event and we’ll be looking to expand on this year’s successful marketing campaign in the future,” she said.
As well as late night shopping many retailers provided special offers to capitalise on the increased footfall, with Manchester’s Arndale Centre running exclusive giveaways via its social media channels in the week leading up to Eid al-Fitr.
Sue Boor, Head of Marketing at Manchester Arndale, said: “This year we trialled a social media campaign to mark Eid, from which we saw strong success.
“Working collectively with other retailers in Manchester city centre ensured that a broad offering was accessible for shoppers celebrating Eid and our social campaign served to compliment the range of activity.”
Image courtesy of Julie H Brown, with thanks
