Footfall Monitor: Footfall Continues to fall in March
07 April 20232 Minute Read
Asim DeyAnalyst | BRC
Kris Hamer PhDDirector of Insight | BRC
Report Excerpt
Helen Dickinson OBE | Chief Executive | British Retail Consortium
“Footfall remains below pre-pandemic levels, and the rate of strong
recovery slowed in March. Households avoided big ticket purchases,
resulting in lower footfall at Retail Parks, meanwhile High Streets and
Shopping Centres saw strong footfall growth as these locations
continued to make up ground lost during the pandemic. Another sign of
the return to pre-pandemic footfall patterns is the return of weekend
shopping, as the ongoing return to the office caused many to refocus
their shopping trips back to the weekend.
“In this challenging economic environment, retailers remain committed
to keeping costs low for consumers, including expanding value ranges
and offering discounts to vulnerable groups. However, Government
should ease the regulatory burdens that hinder industry investment into
lower prices.”
Andy Sumpter | Retail Consultant – EMEA | Sensormatic Solutions
“Shopper traffic counts in March saw an improvement on last year,
which is no small feat given the backdrop of ongoing cost-of-living
pressures, stubbornly high inflation and strike disruptions continuing to
simmer away. Retail parks remained the outlier, with a slightly more
suppressed recovery due to their tenant mix of predominantly furniture,
kitchen and bed retail outlets, as shoppers expressed spending caution
and held off purchasing big ticket items.
“While the retail footfall recovery slowed marginally last month
compared to pre-pandemic levels, we continue to see shopper numbers
continue to normalise and the ebbs and flows in performance are
becoming less pronounced. We also see, perhaps as a consequence of
hybrid working becoming the norm, the significance of the weekend
rising, leaving Friday and Monday trailing behind.”
Overview
The recent trend of decreasing footfall seen since January continued in March. However, compared to March 2022 there was a significant improvement.