Retail footfall drops 1.2% in December
New figures have shown that retail footfall dropped by 1.2% in December compared to the same month a year earlier as shoppers made fewer shopping trips to high streets, shopping centres and out-of-town locations.
Data released by the British Retail Consortium has shown that footfall was down in the month in all three locations. Shopping centres reported the biggest fall of 2.8%, followed by out-of-town locations, down 1%, and high streets, down 0.5%.
In the regions, Wales was the hardest-hit with footfall falling 11.5% in the month. This was followed by the East of England, which recorded a fall of 7.1%, and the North & Yorkshire, down 4.8%.
However in the West Midlands, footfall increased by 10% while Scotland and Greater London saw rises of 6.2% and 3.1% respectively.
Never Miss a Retail Update!On a month-on-month basis footfall rose considerably in all locations. Shopping centres increased 19.5% followed by high street at 8.8% and out-of-town at 7.3%.
Helen Dickinson, BRC director general, said that although people made fewer shopping trips, when they did go shopping they spent more per trip.
She said: “It wasn’t a bumper Christmas but it wasn’t a disaster either. Our December retail sales figures showed very modest sales growth for the market as a whole.
“Although overall shopper numbers were slightly down on 2011, it appears that conversion rates were good – when people did get out to the shops they bought more per trip. The growing popularity of online retail also had an impact on shopper numbers, but it’s important to remember that online retail sales are only just over 10% of all retail spending and many people took advantage of the investment retailers have made in giving flexible delivery options. Click-online and collect-in-store came into its own.”
Dickinson added that this month’s retail failures showed that the challenges for the retail sector were far from over and she re-iterated the organisation’s call for the government to freeze business rates in April.
