MRI: Modest Retail Footfall Rise Last Week

MRI Software has published its latest OnLocation Index, covering Sunday to Saturday, the week 21/04/2024 - 27/04/2024.

Overall

2024 vs 2023: -3.6%
Week-on-week: +1.4%

High Street

2024 vs 2023: -3.6%
Week-on-week: +1.7%

Shopping Centre

2024 vs 2023: -5.6%
Week-on-week: +0.9%

Retail Park

2024 vs 2023: -1.4%
Week-on-week: +1.4%

Jenni Matthews, Marketing & Insights Director, OnLocation for Footfall Analytics at MRI Software, said: 

Last week saw a modest rise in footfall across all UK retail destinations when compared with the week before but remained much lower when compared with the same week in 2023. The variance is possibly due to the multitude of bank holidays which occurred around this time last year; the Easter Bank Holiday was followed by the early May Day Bank Holiday and the King’s Coronation creating a robust period for retail, leisure, and hospitality. Consequently, regional footfall has witnessed notable declines year on year, with some areas nearing double-digit decreases.

It was a fairly consistent week with high streets witnessing the greatest week on week uplift as footfall rose on five out of the seven days. Retail parks and shopping centres saw a more mixed week with marginal declines recorded on three out of the seven days.

Central London and office locations within the city saw footfall performance strengthen last week from the week before likely boosted by the London Marathon at the start of the week with the momentum continuing into the early part of the week.

Footfall rose by a modest +1.4% in all UK retail destinations last week from the week before with high streets leading the charge witnessing a +1.7% rise in activity. Aside from Thursday (-2.1%) and Saturday (-5.1%), footfall into high streets was relatively strong throughout the week. Shopping centres and retail parks, however, witnessed a week-on-week dip in activity from Monday to Wednesday averaging -2.4% and -1.2%, respectively.

The London Marathon which was held at the start of the week likely buoyed footfall within Central London and office locations within the city (MRI Software’s Central London ‘Back to Office’ benchmark) with week on week rises of +4% and +5.9%, respectively. At a regional level, Wales (-1.7%) and the East Midlands (-0.2%) were the only two regions to witness marginal declines in footfall from the week before. Wales also witnessed a significant drop in annual footfall levels falling to -8.2% highlighting the positive impact which the bank holidays bought to the region a year ago.

With a shift in key holidays, footfall remained -3.6% lower than 2023 levels in all UK retail destinations; -5.6% in shopping centres, -3.6% in high streets, and -1.4% in retail parks. This is likely to continue into this week as the UK faces another wave of rail disruptions heading into the early May Day Bank Holiday.

Source : MRI Software

Image : William Barton / shutterstock.com / 610869530

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