Warm Weather & Lockdown Easing Boosts Retail Footfall

The latest retail footfall data from Springboard shows that warm weather and easing of restrictions drove footfall up, but Easter was hit by cold weather on Monday.

Springboard Index - Week 13 2021

2021 vs 2020 = +166.4%

2021 vs 2019 = -49.1%

Week on week = +8.5%

Springboard's Marketing and Insights Director Diane Wehrle, said: "With exceptional weather across most of the UK it was not a surprise that last week footfall rose across all retail destinations from the week before, and with the warmest weather occurring in the south it was unsurprising that this part of the UK that benefited the most.  Footfall rose across all three destination types, but external environments inevitably benefitted more than shopping centres where the rise in footfall was a third lower than in high streets and retail parks.  Following the anniversary of the start of Lockdown 1 in the week before, footfall last week was 1.5 times as great as it was in the same week in 2020, but still two thirds lower than in 2019. 

"The Easter weekend was a week earlier than in 2020, with Good Friday and Easter Saturday overlapping the end of the week. The Easter weekend as a whole (Friday to Monday) was disappointing with a drop in footfall from the same four days in the previous week, however, the bank holiday weekend was hampered by the cold weather on Monday.  Despite this, footfall was more than double that over Easter in 2020 although still more than a half lower than over Easter in 2019. 

"For more data and insights, including full 2019 comparisons across all destination types, subscribe to our benchmarks or get in touch and we'll be happy to help."

Source : Springboard

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