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.”
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
