The struggle of physical retail stores in the UK continued into March, with consumer caution impacting footfall numbers. Although there were sporadic signs of recovery throughout the month, overall, the situation remained bleak when compared to the previous year.
Shopping centers were hit particularly hard in March, experiencing a lack of visitors that resulted in a decline in footfall. Non-food retail stores did see slight improvement, with a 1.4% rise from the previous year’s 6% fall. While this uptick was positive, it was not enough to offset the overall decline, especially considering the challenges faced in March 2018 due to severe weather conditions.
Data from Springboard indicated that footfall declined by an average of 0.3% over the past three months, showing a slight improvement compared to the larger decreases over the last six and twelve months. High streets saw a 2.5% increase, but this was not sufficient to offset the significant drop from March 2018. Retail parks showed progress, erasing the decline from the previous year, while shopping centers continued to struggle, marking a 24th consecutive month of decline.
Diane Wehrle, the Marketing and Insights Director at Springboard, cautioned against interpreting the 1.4% rise in footfall for March as a positive turn in the trend. She emphasized that consumer confidence remains low, leading to a culture of cautious spending among shoppers.
Detailed analysis revealed that March had two strong weeks at the beginning and end, with a significant dip in footfall during the middle three weeks. The first week saw a notable increase of 17.6% compared to the previous year, while the last week also showed a positive growth of 1.2%. These fluctuations in footfall numbers were influenced by external factors such as weather conditions.
For more information on retail trends and consumer behavior, visit Retail Gazette and Retail Week.
