Week eight of trading post-lockdown – what you need to know

A strong uplift was seen across all destinations, with high streets faring the best, rising 4.5% week on week, according to the latest figures from Springboard.

Retail parks saw a 3.3% surge in footfall, while shopping centre footfall rose 3%, compared with the previous week.

From Sunday to Wednesday, retail destinations saw an 8.2% rise in footfall on average, though Springboard noted some distortion in the figures due to the adverse weather conditions on the Monday of the previous week. 

From Thursday to Saturday, however, there a was a slight decline in footfall of 0.5% across all destinations, indicating that shoppers were choosing to take advantage of the eat out to help out promotion and visiting earlier in the week.

Evening surge

From Monday to Wednesday, footfall rose twofold after 6pm, compared with the lunchtime period of 12pm to 2pm.

Across all retail destinations in the UK, footfall jumped 18.9% in the evening week on week, double the footfall rise seen in the middle of the day of 9.6%.

As Monday had an unfair comparative due to the heavy rain the week previously, Tuesday and Wednesday’s figures give a better indication of this.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, footfall after 6pm across UK destinations grew by 12.2% on average week on week, whereas at lunchtime there was a 0.6% decline on average.

With many consumers still working from home, it is unsurprising that they are choosing to venture out to take advantage of the scheme once the working day is finished.

Market towns enjoy biggest surge

Market towns saw the highest influx of footfall last week with locals flocking back to high streets after 6pm.

Footfall in market towns rose 25% from Monday to Wednesday on average,  compared with a 19.2% rise in regional cities week on week.

While the footfall increase in market towns from 12pm until 2pm was more muted, up just 1.6%, this was far better than the lunchtime decline in regional cities of 2%.

Again, Tuesday and Wednesday’s figures offer a fairer view, yet market towns still saw a 22.6% rise in footfall after 6pm, double that of regional cities.

Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle said: “The jury is still out regarding the benefit of the eat out to help out scheme that launched last week, although there were rises in footfall on each day between Monday and Wednesday from the week before.

“It is clear that it  was the post-6pm period that yielded the greatest rise in footfall and also that smaller towns benefited more than large city centres.” 

A positive trajectory

While footfall still remains around a third lower than it was in 2019, each week since non-essential stores reopened has been positive step in the right direction as shoppers begin to feel safer going back to shopping destinations.

Last week, there was a 34% decline in footfall across UK shopping destinations year on year.

High streets saw the biggest jump with footfall moving to a year-on-year decline of -40.2% from -44.3% in the previous week. 

Northern Irish retail spaces are the closest to 2019 levels with an average of a 21.6% decline in footfall year on year.

Welsh footfall levels are also inching up, seeing a year-on-year decline of 32%, from 39.6% the week before.

Werhle added: “As the scheme continues throughout August and more Brits enjoy staycations across the UK, time will tell if the government scheme provides the boost that retail destinations across the country require for business survival.”