Strikes cause 11.1% decrease in retail footfall, reports Springboard
Retail parks have been the hardest hit with a drop in footfall of -21.3% from last Wednesday
Footfall declined 11% yesterday as a result of the UK-wide strike action, according to a new report by MRI Springboard.
Springboard said that this decline is even “more significant” than usual as it comes on the back of reduced footfall last Wednesday (8 March 2023), when customer activity declined by 13.9% from the week before due to severe weather.
The report claimed that retail parks have been the hardest hit with a drop in footfall of 21.3% from last Wednesday.
On the other hand, city centres all around the UK also experienced a 9.6% reduction in footfall compared with last Wednesday.
However, according to Springboard, only Central London experienced a 7.1% increase in foot traffic.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at MRI Springboard, said:” Footfall is lower today than last week in all but two geographies (Greater London and the South West) with the greatest drops from last week occurring in Northern Ireland, North & Yorkshire and Scotland.
“The gap from last year (2022) widened further today to -13.6% from -7.9% last Wednesday with the gap from 2019 widening to -34.1%, a third wider than last Wednesday when it stood at -23.9%.”
