Springboard: Footfall Drops By -27.7% Post-Christmas

Springboard has published footfall data for week 52 (25/12 - 31/12) noting that footfall declined by -27.7% post-Christmas, but retailers benefited from rises in footfall each day from Boxing Day to 29th December.

Springboard High Street Index - Week 52 2022

2022 vs 2021 = +9.3%

2022 vs 2019 = -23.1%

Week-on-week = -25.1%

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

Not surprisingly, footfall across UK retail destinations during the week of Christmas was significantly lower than in the week before that in the final trading week.

Footfall was higher than in the same week last year, but not significantly, despite Christmas 2021 being overshadowed by Covid.  A key factor here is the offset of Christmas which meant that last week began on Christmas Day - when footfall is at its lowest - whilst in 2021 the week began on Boxing Day when many stores were open and trading.  In 2019 - the last Christmas before Covid - the offset is even greater, with Christmas Day falling part way through the week before and Week 52 commencing on 29^th December 2019.

With this in mind, it is therefore more helpful to examine footfall last week against the same dates in previous years, eg. Boxing Day 2022 vs Boxing Day 2021, and also to understand the change in footfall by day, eg. 27^th December vs Boxing Day.

The week began strongly with footfall on Boxing Day 2022 higher than in 2021 although some of this gain would have been due to Boxing Day 2022 falling on a Monday vs a Sunday in 2021 when trading hours were more limited.  In addition to this, a number of stores remained closed on Boxing Day in 2021 and the impact of Covid on peoples' willingness to make trips was also being felt.

What is significant - and what has been an emerging trend for several years - is that footfall on 27^th December 2022 was higher than on Boxing Day. Furthermore, footfall rose further on the following two days peaking on 29^th December, with the first decline from the day before occurring on 30^th December, which then continued into New Year's Eve 2022.  This demonstrates that whilst Boxing Day is somewhat of a marker in the annual retail calendar, the key dates for retail spending are now the subsequent days when consumers are likely to have completed visits with family and friends and have time to make trips out.

Footfall on all but one day last week remained significantly lower than on the same dates in 2019, i.e. Boxing Day 2022 vs Boxing Day 2019 etc.   The only day when footfall was higher than in 2019 was 29^th December which was likely to be largely due to a comparison between Thursday in 2022 with Sunday in 2019 when trading hours would have been shorter.

Source : Springboard

Image : IR_Stone / iStockphoto.com (1355828207)

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