Extreme weather keeps shoppers at home
Given the extreme weather conditions in the latter part of the week it is unsurprising that UK footfall declined by -1.9% from the previous week. However, despite the poor week on week performance it was a stronger result than the comparable benchmark last year when footfall declined by -2.6% from the week before. As we have come to expect, footfall declined annually by -1.2% in UK retail destinations, a steeper drop than the -0.8% in 2018 from the same week in 2017.
Footfall in UK high streets declined by -2.4% against the previous week, a worse result than both shopping centres and retail parks which fell more marginally by -2.0% and -1.0% respectively. On an annual basis, results were more mixed with drops in high streets and shopping centres (-2.3% and -2.1%) while footfall in retail parks increased by +2.1% on the previous year.
Across the week footfall declined on all days against the previous week with the exception of Tuesday when it rose by +5.4%. As the week progressed and the weather conditions worsened, footfall declined noticeably, with a drop of -5.0% against the previous week between Friday and Saturday and -2.6% annually.
Geographically, footfall decline against the previous week in all regions, with the most severe drops in Northern Ireland and Wales (-3.9% and -4.8%) whilst Scotland was the most resilient with a modest drop of -0.7%. UK Footfall also declined annually in every area apart from Greater London where it rose by +1.5%.
