Footfall drops across the UK amidst political uncertainty
New figures have shown that UK retail footfall dropped by 2.3% last week from the previous seven-day period.
According to figures from Springboard, there were declines within all main destination types with high streets seeing a fall of 3.3% and retail parks and shopping centres experiencing respective drops of 1.5% and 0.7%.
Looking at different regions of the UK, Scotland was the only area where footfall increased with an uplift of 1.1%.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: ““There are several factors at play in terms of what is driving consumer activity; however, the most evident is the squeeze on household incomes as a consequence of inflation and increased mortgage rates. This, mixed in with the current political uncertainty, inevitably makes consumers cautious and then rail back on shopping trips.”
Never Miss a Retail Update!Springboard said the figures meant that the increase from 2021 across all UK retail destinations contracted to +5.9% from +6.7% in the previous week. In addition, the gap from 2019 widened to -11.1 from-9.2% in the week before last.
Wehrle said shoppers may well have deferred their shopping trips due to half term happening this week. She added: “Footfall typically rises in the week of school half term as families visit retail destinations for group shopping trips and days out, so footfall this week will be a good barometer of current consumer sentiment and behaviour.”
Image: Georgia Hawkins
