Retail Footfall Increased By 4% Week-On-Week

MRI Software has published its latest OnLocation Index, covering Sunday to Saturday, 07/04/2023 - 13/04/2024.

Overall

2024 vs 2023: +4.2%
Week-on-week: +4.0%

High Street

2024 vs 2023: +6.3%
Week-on-week: +4.4%

Shopping Centre

2024 vs 2023: +1.7%
Week-on-week: +4.8%

Retail Park

2024 vs 2023: +2.2%
Week-on-week: +2.4%

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

A combination of the Easter school holidays continuing in some regions and a return to office led to a rebound in footfall in UK retail destinations. This trend was tinged with a marginal decline recorded in coastal town activity but a rise in Central London activity following the aftermath of the rail strikes from the week before.

The week started strong however this was skewed by the anomaly observed on Sunday where footfall rose by over 80% week on week in all UK retail destinations; this is based on a comparison from Easter Sunday when all stores and destinations remained closed. Shopping centres and high streets saw a double-digit bounce back on Monday compared to Easter Monday however retail parks witnessed declines of a similar magnitude. Midweek, footfall took a significant dip but recovered, particularly in high streets, likely boosted by favourable weather conditions and reduced rail disruptions compared to the week before.

The only town type to see a decline in footfall week on week and year on year were coastal towns compared with a significant rebound in Central London activity, especially office-centric locations within the city as reflected by MRI Software’s Central London ‘Back to Office’ benchmark. With the exception of Wales, where activity levels remained unchanged, all regions witnessed a week-on-week uplift in footfall while Northern Ireland experienced a decline.

As the Easter holidays have shifted, so have footfall trends. Comparing last week’s activity against the same week in 2023 means that we are comparing against the week following Easter weekend; footfall rose year on year last week however this is against a post Easter slump which is witnessed historically each year.

High streets and shopping centres led the charge last week with footfall rising by +4.4% and +4.8%, respectively, compared with a more subdued rise in retail parks of +2.4%. Despite a midweek downturn which saw all UK retail destinations observe a week on week decline in footfall averaging -5.9% on Tuesday and Wednesday, a strong week prevailed for high streets with rises recorded on five out of the seven days peaking on Monday (+11%) and Thursday (+7.3%). A similar trend also followed for shopping centres however retail parks saw declines in activity each day apart from Sunday (+119.1%) which is an anomaly due to the comparison being against Easter Sunday in the week before.

Coastal towns were hit marginally with footfall levels dropping by -0.7% from the week before however it was encouraging to see that rail disruptions failed to dampen overall activity in Central London (+7.2%), regional cities outside of London (+5.4%), and market towns (+4.6%). Even more encouraging is footfall rising by +11.3% in office locations within the city from the week before as reflected in MRI Software’s Central London ‘Back to Office’ benchmark and reinforces employees returning to offices following the Easter break.

Footfall rose by +4.2% last week in all UK retail destinations when compared with the same week in 2023 however this is compared against the week which followed Easter weekend and is therefore not an accurate representation of trends but still an encouraging result. High streets witnessed a year on year rise of +6.3%, versus much lower rises in retail parks (+2.2%) and shopping centres (+1.7%).

Source : MRI Software

Image : Teamjackson / iStockphoto.com / 1642478330

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