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A return to the office has boosted footfall in January despite the effects of rail strikes over the month, Springboard has said, with footfall up by 10.7% against the prior year.
This was greater than the annual uplift of 9.9% reported in December 2022 and marked the largest annual increase since July 2022.
According to Springboard, the move of workers back into offices last month was “clearly demonstrated” by a greater annual rise in weekday footfall than weekend footfall in both high streets and shopping centres.
Footfall in high streets rose annually by +17.2% on weekdays and +10.3% at the weekend, while shopping centre footfall rose by +12.4% on weekdays but only +4.8% at the weekend.
This was in sharp contrast to December 2022, when weekday high street footfall was +11% higher year on year but +18.8% higher during the weekend. Similarly, weekday footfall in shopping centres was just +6.6% higher year on year but +20.2% higher over the weekend.
Springboard noted that with many shopping centres located in high streets, it was no surprise that when consumers returned to offices in January, most of which are in town centres, this drove up both high street and shopping centre footfall.
Overall, against January 2022, footfall was +15% higher in high streets, +10.8% higher in shopping centres and +1.5% higher in retail parks. Nonetheless, against 2019, footfall was down by -15.8% in high streets, -16.2% in shopping centres and -0.7% in retail parks.
Springboard said January’s results were “particularly encouraging” given the rail strikes that occurred in the first week of the month, when many employees would have planned to return to their offices.
Although strikes contributed to a drop in footfall of -3.3% in that first week from the week before, footfall rose in each of the three subsequent weeks, averaging +2.2%, with a “particularly strong” performance in high streets where there was an average week on week increase from the second to the fourth week of January of +3.8%.
Commenting on the latest figures, Diane Wehrle, Marketing and Insights director at Springboard, said: “This evidence reflects the efforts made by many businesses to encourage their employees back into the office following the Christmas break, but it also demonstrates the adverse impact on retail and hospitality businesses when employees opt to work from home during rail strikes.
“We know that during the strikes in December footfall – particularly high street footfall – was severely impacted on the days of the strikes, but the full impact on economic performance was mitigated by the festive period providing an added incentive for consumers to divert their trips to shopping centres and retail parks.”
She added: “With the festive period fully behind us, and the cost of living crisis hitting households hard, when hurdles to spending such as the rail strike are placed in the way, it is likely that many consumers will abandon shopping trips and rein in their spending instead, hindering economic recovery.”
