Retail Footfall Rises As Workers Go Back To The Office

Springboard has published retail footfall data for week 38, advising that UK footfall increased by +2.7% last week as workers return to the office.

To ensure its insights are as relevant as possible, Springboard has introduced a year-on-year 2021 vs 2019 comparison for footfall.

Springboard Index - Shopping Centre - Week 38 2021

2021 vs 2020 = +13.1%

2021 vs 2019 = -23.6%

Week-on-week = +2.3%.

Springboard's Marketing and Insights Director, Diane Wehrle, said: 

"Footfall in UK retail destinations rose from the week before, which is the first rise in the past four weeks and a particularly positive result as footfall declined in the same week in both 2019 and 2020. Footfall rose in all three destination types, but by far the greatest uplift occurred in high streets, where the increase was a third higher than in shopping centres and four times as great as that in retail parks.

High street footfall was undoubtedly supported by a shift back to the office, demonstrated by a greater uplift from the week before in Central London and large city centres outside of the capital, than in smaller high streets and in Outer London. In areas of Central London with a large proportion of office rather than retail space, footfall rose by more than in Central London as a whole. 

The greater rise in footfall in high streets meant that the gap from the 2019 level narrowed significantly, and is now a third less than in shopping centres."

Source : Insight DIY Team and Springboard

Source : GCA

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