MRI: High Streets Saw Biggest Footfall Gains Last Week

The week of Black Friday delivered a double win for UK retail destinations as recovery from Storm Bert and a surge in pre-festive activity propelled footfall across high streets, shopping centres, and retail parks, according to retail and proptech experts MRI Software.

With just weeks until Christmas, these figures reflect a promising consumer rebound, with shoppers eager to seize festive deals despite recent challenges. Retailers stand to benefit from this momentum as the holiday season progresses. 

Week 48 – SUN-SAT

The week of Black Friday combined with the recovery from Storm Bert provided UK retail destinations with a welcome boost in footfall with high streets leading the charge last week compared to the week before.

A strong start to the week highlighted retail destinations made a swift recovery from the turbulent weather from the week before and while footfall levels remained modest mid-week, this soon lifted from Thursday onwards as shoppers prepared for the Black Friday sales and likely the start of the festive party season. Saturday was particularly strong however a portion of this will be attributed to the rebound from Storm Bert, especially with footfall levels in high streets rising by almost half from the week before. 

All town types saw strong performance both year on year and week on week with Central London and historic towns seeing particularly strong results. This could be due to festive events and markets attracting visitors into towns and cities. Regionally, the South West were the clear winners with footfall rising by almost a fifth week on week 

Footfall rose by +13.6% in all UK retail destinations last week compared to the week before. This was driven by a surge in high street footfall (+17%), followed by shopping centres and retail parks experiencing rises of +13.3% and +6.9%.

A strong start to the week saw footfall rise by an average of +16.1% in all UK retail destinations on Monday and Tuesday which is likely to be a rebound from the week before. The momentum continued as the week progressed with footfall levels rising significantly from Thursday onwards and may well be due to shoppers preparing to shop the Black Friday sales. 

Footfall on Black Friday, compared to Black Friday 2023, surpassed levels by +3.4% in all UK retail destinations. This was driven by a boost in retail park and shopping centre activity which rose by +5.5% and +4.4%, respectively suggesting many shoppers likely waited until after work to take advantage of the Black Friday sales. Much of this rise occurred post 5pm where footfall rose by an average of +7% in retail parks and by +12.8% in shopping centres. The late-evening activity could also reflect the added appeal of the leisure and hospitality options available within these retail destinations. 

High streets also witnessed an annual rise in footfall however this was much more modest at +1.9% however week on week activity was much stronger with activity levels up by +16.8%. Shopping centres also saw week on week activity rise by 20.3% whereas retail park activity rose by +7.2%. 

All regions witnessed double digit rises in footfall from the week prior on Black Friday with historic towns seeing an uplift of almost a quarter and by 4.1% compared to Black Friday last year. This may well be due to the draw of festive markets alongside the start of the festive party season. Central London footfall also remained strong week on week rising by +18.8% and by +3.6% from Black Friday last year.

Compared to the same week last year, overall footfall for the week remained higher by +3.4% in all UK retail destinations. Retail parks paved the way with a +4.1% rise compared to the same week last year with high streets (+3.5%) and shopping centres (+2.5%) following. However, it’s worth noting that Black Friday occurred a week later this year. A true comparison will be against the week of Black Friday 2023 and this is where it can be seen that footfall levels this year surpassed 2023 levels significantly both week on week and year on year. 

With consumer spending reportedly higher up until 1pm on Black Friday compared to Black Friday last year alongside a boost in footfall week on week and against Black Friday last year, this suggests that consumers are shaking off a challenging Autumn/Winter to make the most of the festive deals which will come as welcome news for retailers with less than four weeks until Christmas Day. 

Week 48 – MON-SUN

The week of Black Friday combined with the recovery from Storm Bert provided UK retail destinations with a welcome boost in footfall with high streets leading the charge last week compared to the week before. 

A strong start to the week highlighted retail destinations made a swift recovery from the turbulent weather from the week before and while footfall levels remained modest mid-week, this soon lifted from Thursday onwards as shoppers prepared for the Black Friday sales and likely the start of the festive party season. Saturday was particularly strong however a portion of this will be attributed to the rebound from Storm Bert, especially with footfall levels in high streets rising by almost half from the week before. 

All town types saw strong performance both year on year and week on week with Central London and historic towns seeing particularly strong results. This could be due to festive events and markets attracting visitors into towns and cities. 

Compared to the same week last year, footfall remained higher however it’s worth noting that Black Friday occurred a week later this year. A true comparison will be against the week of Black Friday 2023 and this is where it can be seen that footfall levels this year surpassed 2023 levels significantly both week on week and year on year.

Source : MRI Software

Image : marcelokimura / 319774082 / shutterstock

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