Footfall nosedives by 81%

Footfall across bricks and mortar retail destinations declined by 75.1% in the week beginning 22 March, according to the latest data from retail intelligence experts Springboard.

Their findings also found that footfall plummeted by 81.4% last week, suggesting the government-enforced lockdown is working. 

Whilst footfall continued to decline annually, the drop last week was only half of that in the week before. Springboard said that this slowing in the reduction of activity from week to week is “to be expected” as most people have “already curtailed their movements”. 

For this reason, the drop in footfall on each day from the same day in the week before became progressively smaller last week.  

However, Springboard warned that warmer weather could be a “cause for concern”, raising footfall despite recent government guidance and warnings to stay at home.

On Saturday and Sunday, for example, footfall “leapt up significantly” from the weekend before, rising by 9.5% on Saturday and 21.3% on Sunday amid the warmer weekend weather.  

The increase on Sunday was “particularly noticeable” in London, where footfall was up by 51.4%. In other large cities it was up by 32%, and in coastal twins footfall rose by 29.6%.  

Springboard said that the warm weather predicted for Easter weekend may “bring into question what further measures the government will need to enforce to curtail this movement”. 

Nonetheless, it said that the period would be “unrecognisable” for retailers, with non-essential store closures during the “most important trading period outside of Christmas”. 

It noted that in 2019, the three trading days over the Easter Weekend accounted for 38.5% of all footfall generated over the nine key trading days in the year. The volume of footfall generated on Easter Saturday was 51% higher than on August Bank Holiday and 61% higher than on Boxing Day, for example.  

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “It is impossible to draw any real comparison between Easter this year and Easter in preceding years – we have never been beset with such swathing restrictions that have impacted the entire economy and restricted spending so comprehensively.”