Latest data from Springboard reveals that footfall across all retail destinations throughout the UK rose by 2.8% last week from the previous seven days. This compares to an uplift of 4.4% in the prior week when the wearing of face coverings in shops only became mandatory on the Friday and Saturday.
In high streets throughout the UK, footfall rose by 4.3% from the week before, versus just increases of 1.2% in shopping centres and 1.4% in retail parks.
Springboard highlighted that the week started positively on Sunday for high streets with a rise of 6.1%, but on Monday when the rain hit, footfall declined from the week before by 15.7%, versus drops of 3.3% in shopping centres and 0.3% in retail parks.
On subsequent days, however, along with the weather the tables turned in terms of footfall performance in high streets; between Tuesday and Saturday footfall across UK high streets rose by an average of 7.9% versus just 2.3% in shopping centres and 1.8% in retail parks.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, commented: “The first week of the mandatory wearing of face coverings in retail stores in England did not deliver the hoped for uplift in footfall, with a rise over the week across the UK that was virtually half of that in the week before.”
Most recent data suggests high streets may have received a boost from yesterday’s launch of the government-backed discount dining scheme ‘Eat Out to Help Out’.
With people venturing out to visit restaurants, high street footfall by 3pm on Monday was up nearly 30% on the same day last week, while across all destination including retail parks and shopping centres the rise was 19%.
However, Wehrle was cautious on the scheme’s impact, suggesting the better weather compared to last Monday’s played its part in boosting shopper numbers.
NAM Implications:
- Placing obligatory face-masks in a context of queueing, social distancing and fear of spending it can be seen that the mask is a visual reminder of everything that acts against the shopping impulse…
- …thereby making online an attractive and non-corona alternative for shoppers.
- Time for the government to make it easier to shop?
