Retail footfall down 1.1% in August
Retail footfall dropped 1.1% year-on-year overall in August with out-of-town centres reporting the only rise.
The figures released by the British Retail Consortium and Springboard show that the decline was greater than the 0.6% fall in July and below the three-month average of a 0.8% decline. The fall comes despite a rise in retail sales in the month.
Footfall on the high street was 2.8% down on the previous year for August while the decline in shopping centres was 1.1%.
The only increase was seen in out-of-town centres where footfall rose by 2.9%. The out-of-town footfall was boosted by a strong performance by furniture retailers which tend to be situated in retail parks.
Never Miss a Retail Update!BRC director general Helen Dickinson said: “Footfall might be down slightly this month but retail sales performed well in August. Taking account of the impact of online shopping we see that customers are spending more per trip than in recent months. It seems that customers are hitting the high streets with purpose – knowing what they want to buy ahead of time, supported by online research – and doing more shopping in a single trip.”
She added: “The lines between bricks and mortar stores and digital interactions are less defined and more seamless as retailers continue to innovate in order to meet and exceed the needs of their customers. We will continue to see the whole customer experience becoming more and more important in the use of physical space.”
The only regions to report an increase in footfall in the month were the South East, East Midlands, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
