As stores reopen, retail continues to suffer, despite initial surge in footfall

As stores reopened and non-essential retailers welcomed shoppers in June, footfall was down 56.6 percent compared to 2019.

Desite the increase in traffic over May, when comparable footfall was down 73.3 percent, the +44 percent increase in the first week of reopening quickly subdued in the latter two weeks.

Key differences between destinations types – retail parks, high street, shopping centres — may provide an early indication for the way forward for bricks mortar retail. Retail parks continued to be the most resilient with a year on year decline of around half of that in other destination types, according to Springboard, the retail insight monitor.

High streets and shopping centres rely on a blend of shoppers, workers, students, tourists and residents to fuel spending, a large proportion of which are still absent. This, plus advice not to only use public transport for essential travel, means that footfall and sales, will be compromised.

This is highlighted most clearly in the results for Central London, which has the highest footfall volume of any part of the UK and, where footfall remains -80.8 percent lower than last year.

Diane Wehrle, Springboard Insights Director, said in a press release: “Whilst footfall across the UK in June was still less than half the level of last year, the annual decline of -56.6 percent represented a significant improvement from May, when footfall was -73.3 percent lower than 2019. The reopening of non-essential retail stores in England on 15th June was the turning point which led to footfall across all UK retail destinations increasing by 40 percent week on week.

The pent up anticipation to shop after more than three months of closure resulted in a huge spike in footfall in the week of re-opening, however footfall in the subsequent two weeks slowed considerably, from 6.6 percent in the first week after reopening to 2.4 percent in the second week. Long queues coupled with a restricted shopping experience due to social distancing could be the contributing factors to this sudden drop off in footfall. This is concerning for the economic recovery path of bricks and mortar retail who are heavily reliant on customer experience.

Underlying the headline UK figure, there are key differences between the three destination types that may provide an early indication for the way forward for bricks mortar retail. Retail parks have been the most resilient of the three destination types throughout the lockdown. This is due to the presence of food stores and also homeware stores that opened ahead of non-essential retail. Whilst footfall in retail parks rose by less than that in high streets or shopping centres in the week when non-essential retail reopened, the rate of decline in retail parks on an annual basis, is still around half of that in the other two destination types. The fact that retail parks are easily accessible by car, they are open air and comprise large spacious stores, makes them more appealing to consumers during the phases of easing lockdown restrictions.

The high street is devoid of shoppers

This is a sharp contrast with high streets and shopping centres (a large proportion of shopping centres are located within town centres) which rely on a blend of shoppers, workers, students, tourists and residents to fuel spending. The fact that much of the workforce continues to work from home, tourists and many students are absent, as well as the government urging consumers to only use public transport for essential travel, means that footfall and therefore sales, will continue to be compromised in these retail destinations. This is highlighted most clearly in the results for Central London, which has the highest footfall volume of any part of the UK and, where despite footfall rising by +40.9 percent in the week that retail reopened, it remains -80.8 percent lower than last year.”

Image via New West End Company