Retail Foot Traffic Increases 4.1 Pct In The UK

As the revival of the economy gained momentum, the number of visits to stores in Britain spiked in the previous week. Information company Springboard indicated that foot traffic increased 4.1 percent during the timeframe of Aug. 16 to Aug. 22 in comparison to the week before, City A.M. reported.

Springboard Insights Director Diane Wehrle hinted that new travel restrictions had positively impacted retail in Britain. “It seems that the increased quarantine measures imposed last week on a number of overseas destinations are having a positive impact on U.K. footfall,” Wehrle said. She also indicated that “the uplift was more than four times as large as the week before.”

Foot traffic, in one case, spiked by 6.8 percent in Greater London. However, the Springboard figures illustrated that the economy is not anywhere close to the levels seen before the pandemic.

Traffic at British retail destinations was lower by 30.7 percent last week in comparison to the prior year. The figure encompasses shopping centers, primary business streets and shopping parks.

Foot traffic was 61.2 percent lower on the high streets in the middle of London in comparison to last year, while it was down nearly 50 percent – at 49.8 percent – in regional cities.

The news comes as British retail recovery is ongoing, but at a snail’s pace. The British Retail Consortium noted that foot traffic dropped by 42.1 percent in July over last year’s levels, marking a rise from 62.6 percent in June and under the three-month average drop of 61.6 percent. The trade organization’s poll also indicated that the opening of bars and eateries again did offer a small increase to retail traffic.

The organization did report that British shoppers are going back to brick-and-mortar shops. Sixty-two percent of those shoppers indicated that they feel comfortable purchasing their supermarket items in a brick-and-mortar store, but under half (42 percent) are comfortable visiting a non-food shop to purchase.