UK footfall still well down on 2019 in latest week says Ipsos

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 11, 2022

UK retail footfall continues to be well below the pre-pandemic period with no signs that this summer will get it back into positive territory.

The latest numbers from the Ipsos Retail Traffic Index show that in the week to 10 July, UK footfall dropped by as much as 19.9% compared to 2019 in the non-food sector.

That's a big dip and supports the view of some who believe it will be difficult to ever get back to pre-Covid levels given the fact that large numbers of UK-based consumers continue to work from home for part of the week.

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It means that retail destinations are more dependent on visitors from abroad and from dedicated shoppers the UK itself, rather than those office workers who might have previously been inclined to visit the shops in their lunch hour or after work.

Ipsos said that as well as the almost 20% fall compared to 2019, against the previous week, the seven days saw a 5.9% footfall drop.

Those figures exactly match the falls in British cities, although towns were better off with a drop of 16.8% compared to 2019 and 5.8% compared to the previous week.

Retail parks remained the best performers on a three-year comparison with a drop of 'only' 17.3%, although they fared worse on a one-week basis with a 7.2% drop.

High streets, by contrast, may have been down 20.4% against 2019 but were only down 4.4% week on week. Shopping centres had the worst of both worlds with a 21.7% drop against three years ago and a 6.3% drop against the previous week.