BRC-KPMG: September Footfall Closes the Quarter on a Low

The British Retail Consortium and KPMG Footfall and Vacancies Monitor has shown that September closed the quarter on a low. 

Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive, British Retail Consortium: 

"September saw a continuation of the trend for decreased footfall at UK shops, with overall figures down 1.7% on September 2017. Shoppers are feeling the squeeze of increasing shop price inflation and little real wage growth. 

"This month's footfall figures are yet further demonstration of the increasingly difficult operating environment British retailers are facing.  And yet, the country's largest private sector employer is not seeing any action from Government to help.  

"The retail industry pays a disproportionate amount of tax, representing 5% of the economy and paying 10% of business tax and 25% of business rates.  The system is skewed towards high taxes on people and property which is contributing to store closures and job losses, stalling the reinvention of our high streets. The Government urgently needs to reduce the business rates burdens and create a tax system fit for the 21st century that more fairly distributes taxes right across the economy."

Diane Wehrle, Marketing and Insights Director, Springboard: 

"A drop in footfall of -1.7% in September - an even slightly greater rate of footfall decline than the -1.6% decline in August - provides further evidence of the current challenges facing bricks and mortar retail.  However whilst it would be easy to put this down to the shift to online spending, the story is not nearly as cut and dried.  With the growth in non-food online sales in September of +5.4% being the lowest since January and just half what it was in September 2017, combined with the highest level consumer credit for five years, a recent increase in inflation, a 20% drop in new car sales which is the worst since 2008, and the rise in house prices only a half what it was a year ago, all indicators point to the fact that footfall is simply  reflecting the underlying constraints on consumer spend generally. 

"In addition, the recent well publicised high street failures are likely to have made consumers more cautious about committing to large purchases in a number of our leading high street brands, either online or in bricks and mortar stores.  With all of these pressures, and the continued mild weather minimising the impetus to renew fashion items for autumn, at least some of the impact on footfall will be a consequence of consumers focusing on paying down debt and shoring up their finances in advance of the Christmas period." 

TOP LINE FIGURES

UK TOTAL RETAIL FOOTFALL = -1.7%(% change year-on-year)

HIGH STREET = -2.2% (% change year-on-year)

RETAIL PARK = 0.1% (% change year-on-year)

SHOPPING CENTRE = -2.5% (% change year-on-year)

UK RETAIL FOOTFALL JUL-SEP 2018 = -1.4% (% change year-on-year)

Source : Insight DIY Team and BRC-KPMG

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