Retailers see best Christmas footfall since start of pandemic

Retail footfall improved markedly year-on-year in 2022, according to industry data released on Friday, with shop visitors at Christmas reaching their highest levels since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to BRC-Sensormatic IQ data, total UK footfall for 2022 was 11.8% below pre-pandemic levels.

That was, however, a big improvement on 2021 footfall, which was 33.2% below levels before the outbreak of Covid-19.

Total UK footfall decreased 7.3% in December over the pre-Covid period three years prior, which was six percentage points better than November, and an improvement on the three-month average decline of 10.2%.

BRC said high street footfall declined 9.3% year-on-three-years in December - 4.3 percentage points better than the prior month’s rate, and also better than the three-month average decline of 11.0%.

At retail parks, footfall was 5.2% below pre-Covid levels, which was one percentage point worse than November, and worse than the three-month average decline of 4.5%.

Shopping centre footfall declined 19.9% compared to the same period in 2019, which was 3.3 percentage points better than the prior month’s rate, and an improvement on the three-month average decline of 20.9%.

On a regional basis, Northern Ireland saw the shallowest footfall decline of all nations and regions at 3.0%, followed by England at 8.7% and Wales at 9.6%.

Scotland saw the steepest decline at 9.9%.

On a year-on-year basis, total footfall increased 15.1%, with high streets rising 19.7% and shopping centres by 13.4%, while retail parks declined 1.6%.

“Footfall reached its highest level since the start of the pandemic in December,” said Helen Dickinson, chief executive officer of the British Retail Consortium.

“A combination of rail disruption and the cold snap kept many shoppers from visiting town centres and high streets in the last week before Christmas.

“Meanwhile, the postal strikes forced others to head in for the last week to secure last minute gifts in-store.”

Dickinson said “historically low” consumer confidence and 30-year-high inflation made for an “exceptionally difficult year” for consumers and retailers, with footfall down over 10% on pre-pandemic levels.

“Nonetheless, this was still a significant improvement on the previous two years when the pandemic kept many people at home.

“Although retailers’ input costs show little sign of easing in 2023, they continue to do all they can to keep prices affordable and tempt customers in.”

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.