High Street Footfall Faces Drop As Plan B Impact Begins To Show

Springboard has published retail footfall data for week 49 (last week), advising that the impact of Plan B restrictions is beginning to show, with a drop in footfall on UK high streets. 

To ensure its insights are as relevant as possible, Springboard has introduced a year-on-year 2021 vs 2019 comparison for footfall.

Springboard High Street Index - Week 49 2021

2021 vs 2020 = +25.8%

2021 vs 2019 = -21.1%

Week-on-week = -2.7%

Springboard's Marketing and Insights Director, Diane Wehrle, said: 

"The hoped for pre-Christmas boost in trading did not materialise last week, with footfall in UK retail destinations declining from the week before, all of which was driven by a reduction in activity in high streets.  Footfall did rise in retail parks and shopping centres, but only by a marginal amount which wasn't enough to deliver an uplift overall. 

The week as a whole was impacted by a particularly poor result on Tuesday when there was double digit decline from the week before, undoubtedly due to severe weather, however footfall on Saturday - the peak trading day - was subdued with a marginal drop from the week before whilst there had been rises on each of the previous three days. 

The poor result on Saturday may well be the first signs of the impact of the Plan B restrictions which, although limited to compulsory mask wearing in stores up to the end of last week, is likely to have increased nervousness amongst consumers around visiting busy destinations during peak shopping periods.  Indeed there were already early signs showing last week, with declines in footfall from the week before in Central London and large cities outside of the capital whilst footfall in market towns - which are smaller more local high streets - rose from the week before.

Whilst Plan B restrictions in terms of advice to work from home if possible don't come into force until today, it appears to have already had an impact last week, with a decline in Springboard's Central London Back to the Office benchmark that was nearly double the drop in footfall in Central London as a whole."

Source : Springboard

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the UK's largest home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY weekly newsletter.