MRI: Natural Decline In Post-Easter Retail Footfall

MRI Software has reported on post-Easter retail footfall (week 17).

Jenni Matthews, Senior Brand, PR & Content Manager (EMEA) at MRI Software, said:

Week 17 – SUN-SAT

Retail footfall naturally declined week on week following the Easter break in all UK retail destinations. This was largely driven by a substantial drop on Easter Sunday as the majority of retail stores and destinations remained closed.

This trend continued into Easter Monday with only retail parks witnessing an uplift on this day but then continued to fall away as the week progressed. High streets and shopping centres also saw footfall decline each day with sharp drops recorded on Thursday, likely in response to the elevated performance experienced in the week before ahead of Easter weekend. High streets saw footfall recover on Friday and Saturday whereas shopping centres only witnessed an uplift on Saturday. 

All town types experienced a sharp drop in footfall with historic, coastal and market towns seeing the largest decline. Much of the decline seen in UK’s retail destinations last week, and across towns and cities, may also be attributed to many people taking vacation outside of the UK or the end of the school holidays in many regions. 

Footfall declined by -9.8% in all UK retail destinations last week led by a significant drop in shopping centre activity (-14.1%) followed by retail parks (-11.2%). This drop is anticipated given the greater increases witnessed in the week before last particularly in the lead up to Easter weekend. High streets witnessed a lesser decline of -7% week on week however this is a deterioration from the week before last when activity declined by -2.8%. 

Retail parks witnessed a strong start to the week with footfall rising on Monday by +5.6% week on week however this worsened from Wednesday onwards in response to the surge in activity witnessed in the week leading up to Easter. High streets witnessed week on week declines in footfall from Monday to Thursday averaging -12.1%. This improved on Friday and Saturday with activity rising by an average of +4.7% likely to be in response to the drop on Good Friday and Saturday (19th April). Shopping centres saw a similar trend to high streets with footfall falling by an average of -11.5% from Monday to Friday but rising on Saturday by an average of +2%. 

Coastal, historic and market towns saw the sharpest drop in activity with footfall declining by -8.4%, -9.4%, and -8.4%, respectively. This suggests the Easter school holidays have come to an end in many regions or people have chosen to take vacation outside of the UK. This is further reinforced by a -7.8% week on week drop in footfall in office dense locations within Central London. 

Annually, retail footfall declined by -2.6% in all UK retail destinations with the most severe drop witnessed in shopping centres (-3.4%) followed by high streets (-2.5%) and a lesser decline in retail parks (-2.1%), highlighting the impact of the shift in Easter holiday timings. 

Week 17 – MON-SUN

Retail footfall naturally declined week on week following the Easter break in all UK retail destinations. This was largely driven by a substantial drop on Easter Monday and Thursday. 

This trend continued throughout the week with only retail parks witnessing an uplift on Monday but then continued to fall away as the week progressed. High streets and shopping centres also saw footfall decline each day with sharp drops recorded on Thursday, likely in response to the elevated performance experienced in the week before ahead of Easter weekend. High streets saw footfall recover on Friday and Saturday whereas shopping centres only witnessed an uplift on Saturday. All UK retail destinations experienced a significant uplift on Sunday, likely in response to the sharp drop witnessed on Easter Sunday.

All town types experienced a sharp drop in footfall with historic, coastal and market towns seeing the largest decline. Much of the decline seen in UK’s retail destinations, and across towns and cities, may also be attributed to many people taking vacation outside of the UK or the end of the school holidays in many regions. 

Annually, there was also a modest rise in footfall in all UK retail destinations with the greatest increase witnessed in retail parks, highlighting the impact of the shift in Easter holiday timings.

Source : MRI Software

Image : AlbertPego / iStockphoto / 529839265

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