Springboard reports substantial drop in pedestrian traffic
Footfall took a downward shift last week, with an annual change of -2.7 per cent, a drop against the -2.1 per cent of the same week in 2017. This may in part be due to the slight shift in pay weekend which is more evident in the weekly change, footfall dropped -4.0 per cent against the previous week, whereas last year saw just a slight dip of -0.1 per cent.
The change was driven by declines across all location types, as numbers declined comprehensively across the regions from mid-week onwards following a buoyant start to the week. Shopping centres experienced the biggest change, with an annual decline of -3.5 per cent, a poorer performance than the -1.1 per cent in 2017, and a weekly move of -2.7 per cent this year in contrast to the +0.6 per cent of last year.
High street change was less severe against last year shifting from -3.3 per cent in 2017, to -2.7 per cent this year, but the weekly movement from -1.0 per cent to -5.3 per cent is a notable change in activity driven by a drop each day from Monday onwards. Retail park annual performance also dropped, moving from -0.7 per cent last year to -1.9 per cent last week, as weekly change also moved to -2.6 per cent. Only Scotland can boast a glimmer of positivity amongst the downward trends with both retail park and shopping centre weekly change increasing +0.1 per cent and +1.4 per cent respectively.
