Retail Footfall Drops More Than 80% In The Last Week

Springboard data has revealed that retail footfall declined by 75.1% for the the week commencing 22nd March and by 81.4% in the last week.

On Saturday and Sunday, footfall across all retail destinations suddenly shifted upward from the previous week; by +9.5% on Saturday and by +21.3% on Sunday. Clearly some of this uplift will have been a consequence of the need for households to restock, but of huge concern is the fact that on Sunday high streets saw a huge increase in footfall from the previous Sunday and was much larger than the increase in retail parks. The lack of substantive food and grocery outlets in high streets, suggests that consumers were making leisure trips to town centres rather than trips borne out of necessity.

The second full week of lock down appears to be working, with footfall in UK retail destinations declining even further last week on an annual basis.  However, it is just as important to look at the change in footfall from the previous week, as this is a key indicator of whether consumers are changing their habits and therefore adhering to the lock down.  Indeed, this showed that whilst footfall continued to decline, the drop last week was only around half of that in the week before.

The important Easter trading period is expected to be unrecognisable this year.  Of nine key trading days in 2019, 38.5% of footfall was generated over the Easter weekend.

Springboard marketing and insights director, Diane Werhle, said: “It is impossible to draw any real comparison between Easter this year and Easter in preceding years – we have never been beset with such swathing restrictions that have impacted the entire economy and restricted spending so comprehensively.”

Source : Insight DIY Team and Springboard

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