U.K. Store Footfall Slipped on Wet Weather in December
05 January 2024 - 5:59PM
Dow Jones News
By Michael Susin
Fewer shoppers visited U.K. retail stores in the run-up to
Christmas, deterred by heavy rain, according to a British Retail
Consortium and Sensormatic Solutions IQ Footfall Monitor
report.
Retail-store footfall--comprising high-street, retail-park and
shopping-center data--for the five weeks ended Dec. 30 fell 5.0%
compared with the same period a year earlier, the report showed
Friday. In November, store visits were down 0.7% on year. In
October, when Storm Babet hit the U.K., footfall sank 5.7% on year,
the sharpest decline of 2023.
"One of the wettest Decembers on record combined with dampened
consumer confidence and ongoing spending caution meant some
retailers may have been left disappointed in last month's footfall
performance," Sensormatic Solutions retail consultant Andy Sumpter
said.
"While we saw festive glimmers of shopper traffic peaks in and
around discounting days, such as Boxing Day when footfall improved
39.2% week-on-week, many may have been waiting for a last-minute
Christmas trading rush that never came."
Shopping-centers continued to suffer the largest drop in visits,
with footfall down 7.4% in December. High streets recorded 4.2%
decline, while retail-park visits fell by 4.8%.
"There's little doubt that the overall downward year-on-year
trajectory in store visits in December--usually the crescendo of
the Golden Quarter--will have come as a blow. Retailers will be
hoping that demand improves as inflation starts to ease and the
impact of the inflationary spending squeeze on disposable incomes
softens," Sumpter said.
Write to Michael Susin at michael.susin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 05, 2024 01:44 ET (06:44 GMT)
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