Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Latest data from retail experts Springboard reveals that footfall across all retail destinations throughout the UK rose by +2.8% last week from the previous week; a more modest uplift from the week before when face coverings were only mandatory on the Friday and Saturday, during which footfall had risen by +4.4%.
In England, footfall rose by just +2.5% across all destinations, versus more than +4% in each of the other UK nations.
In high streets throughout the UK, footfall rose by +4.3% from the week before, versus just +1.2% in shopping centres and +1.4% in retail parks. The week started positively on Sunday for UK high streets with a rise of +6.1%, but on Monday when the rain hit, high street footfall declined from the week before by -15.7%, versus drops of just -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. Of the four UK nations it was Wales that benefited from the most significant uplift between Tuesday and Saturday, with a week on week rise over those five days of +14.8% versus +7.1% in England.
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.”
