Overall footfall across UK shopping destinations last week rose by 0.3 per cent compared to the week before, reflecting a lull in consumer appetite following Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Research by shopper traffic analytics firm Springboard observed a 2.2 per cent rise in shopping centre footfall last week, while High Street footfall fell by 0.9 per cent.

Footfall peaked on Tuesday with a rise of 6.4 per cent before the cold weather hit on Wednesday, Springboard said, noting that by Friday footfall was lower than the week before.

It added that by Saturday, footfall dropped by 4.9 per cent across all UK destinations and by 7.3 per cent in High Streets.

“As forecast, footfall across UK retail destinations went into a lull last week following the boost delivered in the preceding two weeks by Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” commented Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard. “There was only a very marginal rise in footfall from the week before, with a clear reduction in activity from Wednesday onwards when the cold weather hit.”

Despite being a “flat week” for footfall compared to the week before, Springboard found that the uplift from 2021 increased to 10.3 per cent last week from 8.8 per cent in the previous week.

The research follows concerns from retailers that they ‘won’t survive a year’ due to rising inflation rates and heating bills.

Research by Open Banking platform Tink found that to adapt and survive, four in 10 business owners said they were considering cutting costs across the board, with almost half reporting staff reductions and over half considering cuts to advertising and training.

Share Story: