According to Springboard, footfall declined by -0.2% last week from the week before across all UK retail destinations, with declines from the week before in all but three UK geographies, indicating the increasing potential impact of the rise in energy prices on footfall.
The areas which saw an uplift in footfall were modest (+3.9% in the East, +1.4% in Greater London and just +0.1% in the South East). Across the remaining seven UK geographies, the decline was more than -2% in three areas, with an average drop across all seven areas of -1.6%.
Last week, footfall dropped in both retail parks (-0.9%) and shopping centres (-1.8%) while in high streets footfall rose marginally, by +1%. Footfall was however volatile, with rises from the week before on both Sunday and Monday, which averaged +3.6%. Between Tuesday and Thursday footfall declined, with a significant drop of -10.5% on Wednesday (-15% in high streets) when the weather was less favourable than on previous days. Footfall bounced back at the end of the week, with a particularly strong increase in high streets on Friday of +12.1% while footfall remained flat in both retail parks and shopping centres on that day.
The overall impact of the muted level of consumer activity last week was that the percentage change in footfall from 2021 halved to +5.1% from +10.6% in the week before across all retail destinations, with a greater proportionate impact on retail parks where the uplift from 2021 contracted to +0.7% from +3.4% in the week before last.
The gap from the 2019 level improved marginally to -10.8% from -11.2% in the previous week across all UK retail destinations, however, this was driven by high streets (-12.1% versus -13.5% in the week before last) whilst the gap widened in both retail parks (to -2.9% from -2.3%) and shopping centres (to -15.6% from -15.1%).
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, comments: “It may be a little premature to draw definitive conclusions; however, the comprehensive drop in footfall across nearly all parts of the UK may well be an initial indicator of the impact on consumers of higher energy costs that came into effect on October 1. This is a clear contrast to the week before last when footfall rose universally across all areas of the UK.
“Footfall across UK retail destinations declined marginally last week from the week before, a sharp contrast to the rise in footfall in the week before last. Drops in footfall in both shopping centres drove the decline over the week and retail parks, whilst in high streets footfall rose very slightly.
“Notably, there was a particularly large decline on Wednesday in high streets and shopping centres, possibly due to more inclement weather than on previous and subsequent days last week.
“The impact of the week-on-week decline was a halving of the uplift in footfall from 2021 from the week before, although the gap from 2019 narrowed marginally.”
