Springboard reports the biggest drop in footfall on record
Retail intelligence expert Springboard reports the biggest drop in footfall ever recorded, as shoppers stay away from retail destination to combat the coronavirus.
Springboard has revealed that the footfall numbers for last week saw a decline of -21.7 per cent from the previous week, and by -28 per cent over the year, three times greater than the worst ever recorded.
High streets were hit hardest, with a drop in footfall of -31 per cent from the week before and -41 per cent from the same week in 2019. Retail parks benefited from the panic buying phenomenon at the beginning of the week, but on Saturday, footfall in retail parks was -13.4 per cent lower than on the same Saturday in the previous week and -18 per cent lower than the same Saturday in 2019.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard commented: “The decline in footfall week on week was on par with the drop normally only ever seen in the week post-Christmas. The annual change represented an unprecedented decline in retail footfall that was three times greater than the worst result we have ever previously recorded.”
Footfall is likely to plummet even further as a snowballing list of big name retailers announce temporary store closures in the face of the crisis.
