Lockdown fatigue grows as UK footfall rises for third straight week - Springboard

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Feb 8, 2021

Pent-up desire to go out and shop is growing week-on-week. As lockdowns in the UK drag on, footfall across all retail destinations rose by 6.7% in the seven days stretching 31 January to 5 February, according to the latest figures from Springboard.

It was the third consecutive week in which footfall has increased and by far greater an uplift than in the previous seven-day period, it noted.

There were rises of 9% in UK high streets last week, plus a 4.5% lift in retail parks and 4.3% boost in shopping centres as lockdown fatigue looks to be intensifying.

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Despite the heavy impact that the pandemic has had on large cities, footfall rose in regional cities by 2.5% and by a hefty 12.3% in Central London.

The overall outcome of the increase has seen a further reduction in the year-on-year decline in footfall, to -63.9% across all retail destinations from -65.2% last week.

Footfall also increased every day, averaging +4% over the working week but rising by 22.6% on Sunday and 11.2% on Saturday.

The degree of uplift varied across the UK, ranging from -4.9% in Scotland where the weather was most severe and -0.2% in Northern Ireland, to +17.6% in the West Midlands and +10.5% in the South West.

In high streets, increases in footfall across the UK were more consistent. In six out of 10 geographies the increase in footfall was greater than 10%, reaching as much as +18.5% in the West Midlands.

Diane Wehrle, Insights director at Springboard, said: “With shopper activity increasing for the past three weeks despite all but essential stores remaining closed, the results are delivering ever more compelling evidence of escalating lockdown fatigue. The UK’s accelerated vaccination drive could well be driving additional consumer confidence”.