Springboard reveal footfall growth in the run up to Christmas.
Latest data from retail experts Springboard reveals that footfall across all UK retail destinations rose last week by +19.5% from the week before, with rises of +26.3% in shopping centres and +21.1% in high streets. In retail parks footfall rose by +9%, while in shopping parks footfall rose by +15.5%.
Increases in footfall was slightly higher in city centres than smaller towns, +29.7% in regional cities compared to +20.9% in market towns. The greatest increase occurred in large shopping centres across the UK (those with more than half a million sq. ft) where footfall rose by +35.5%.
These results are not unexpected, given the proclivity of shoppers to head for the largest destinations which have the widest product choice for Christmas shopping.
Footfall rose in all periods across the entire day which is good news for retailers as it indicates that shoppers are utilising extended trading hours, although the vast majority of all footfall over the 24 period is still accounted for by the 9am to 6pm period (84%).
Diane Wehrle Insights Director at Springboard said, “In the second week following the reopening of non-essential retail stores footfall across UK retail destinations continued to rise. The uplift was smaller than in the first week, but it was still significantly greater than in the second week following the reopening of retail in June, indicating the desire of shoppers to visit bricks and mortar stores in the run up to Christmas.â€
