UK retail footfall contracted week-on-week in the seven days ended 9 October, with rising energy prices seemingly impacting retail appetite.
Compared to the previous week, there were declines in footfall in all but three UK geographies, with the decline being more than 2% in three areas and an average drop of 1.6% across all seven areas.
Footfall dropped 0.9% in retail parks, according to retail experts Springboard, while shopping centre footfall contracted 1.8%. High street footfall, on the other hand, increased by 1% week-on-week.
The areas which saw an uplift in footfall were modest, up 3.9% in the East, 1.4% in Greater London, and just 0.1% in the South East.
Springboard also stated that the gap from 2019’s level improved marginally to -10.8% from -11.2%.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “It may be a little premature to draw definitive conclusions; however, the comprehensive drop in footfall across nearly all parts of the UK may well be an initial indicator of the impact on consumers of higher energy costs that came into effect on 1 October. This is a clear contrast to the week before last when footfall rose universally across all areas of the UK.”
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
