Weekly retail footfall up 6.3% year-on-year

Recent data from retail experts MRI Springboard revealed that the annual footfall spanning UK retail destinations increased by +6.3% last week compared to the same week in 2022, despite it being down by -5.2% week-on-week.

Despite the week-on-week drop, the +6.3% year on year increase, was the highest year on year increase recorded since Easter. During last week, footfall was lower than the week before on every day between Sunday and Friday, particularly on Tuesday (down 11%). However, on the contrary, Saturday saw a 2.5% increase as shoppers made the most of the heatwave to make trips.

Week-on-week decreases across UK geographies last week ranged from -9.6% in the South West to -2.1% in Wales.

Across the range of town types, the largest decline of -14.5% occurred in coastal towns, which was unsurprising given the average increase of +16.1% over the two weeks prior.

The gap from the 2019 pre-pandemic footfall level widened by -7.2% last week from -3.4% in the previous week. This was down by -15.5% in shopping centres from -7.5% in the week before last. The exception to the rule was the central London "Back to the Office" benchmark, which saw footfall rise by 0.7%.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at MRI Springboard, commented: "Following strong comparables over the previous two weeks due to the Whitsun half-term break, it was inevitable that footfall across UK retail destinations would drop last week from the week before, and this is exactly what occurred. However, despite the week-on-week drop, the annual increase in footfall last week was greater than in any week since Easter.

"Footfall declined from the week before across all three key destination types, with the largest drop in shopping centres, where the largest week-on-week rise had been recorded in the week before last. Across the UK, footfall declined in all geographies following universal increases in the previous week."