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UK footfall continues to drop

By Danielle Wightman-Stone

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Report

UK footfall declined by 10.5 percent on New Year’s Eve, following drops in footfall on Boxing Day, down 4.5 percent, as well as a decline of 2.3 percent between December 27 and December 30, according to new figures from Springboard.

However, Springboard notes that footfall did recover on New Year’s Day, rising by 16.8 percent from last year, helped in part by the fact the day fell on a Monday this year.

Despite the year-on-year rise on New Year's Day, footfall dropped away markedly from December 30, where it fell by 14.4 percent between December 30 and New Year's Eve, and then by a further 9.7 percent between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: "The drop in footfall on New Year's Eve was unexpected, and particularly the magnitude of the decline. Last year footfall rose on New Year's Eve, but this was a response to a significant drop in 2015 which saw severe weather conditions. It was against this backdrop that it was anticipated that footfall would rise modestly.

“The mitigating factor may have been the wind and rain that was evident earlier in the day - from Storm Dylan - which could have led consumers to change plans, however, the weather had mainly cleared up by the early evening.”

Wehrle added: “Overall the Christmas and New Year trading period this year has been challenging for bricks and mortar stores, with noticeably lower footfall than last year. In part this is a reflection of caution amongst consumers, but is also a function of underlying structural shifts in consumers’ shopping habits due to online activity, and the fact that spending is spread across a wider range of products than ever before which is increasingly encompassing leisure experiences rather than purely physical goods.”

Image: via Pexels

Footfall
Springboard