Weekend high street visits down 5% despite shoppers’ best intentions

Weekend high street visits fell by 5% last year despite shoppers saying they want to support local businesses, mobile data shows.

Despite consumers claiming to be willing to pay an extra 23% more to support local businesses, nearly one in four (23%) admit to shopping less frequently on their high street last year, according to the latest Movers Index from Virgin Media O2 Business.

This is reflected in the numbers of weekend trips to high street and shopping centre areas which fell by 5% and 9% respectively between 2023 to 2024, the index, which combines anonymous UK movement data from O2 Motion with survey findings, shows.

The largest falls were in the summer months, with a 4% drop in December.

Store closures surged 28%, with 63% of Britons expressing worries about further closures.

Compounding this, more than half of retailers (53%) reported a noticeable decline in shoppers spending time in-store, and 40% noted reduced spending.

Just over a third of consumers (34%) said they aimed to cut down on overspending on non-essential items, and 33% planned to reduce impulse buying.

The data also shows that 2024 saw a further shift in hybrid working policies, with 88% of workers subject to compulsory office attendance.

As a result, more than three quarters of employees (76%) began commuting at least three days a week, and 39% commuted to the office five days a week.

Almost three quarters of those polled (74%) said they felt feel positive about mandatory office attendance policies.

Diego Tedesco, Director of Commercial, Product & Marketing at Virgin Media O2 Business, said: "Our full-year Virgin Media O2 Business Movers Index shows a disconnect between shoppers’ intentions and actions.

"Despite ambitions from many to shop locally, budgets remained tight and high street visits saw a sharp decline as a third (37%) shopped more online."

Strand Partners surveyed 2,010 UK adults and 2,011 businesses between 24-31 December.