Retail footfall jumps as shoppers eye end of lockdown

Retail footfall rebounded in February, despite ongoing lockdown restrictions, industry data showed on Thursday.

According to retail consultancy Springboard, footfall rose 16% between January and February, with all destinations reporting an increase. The largest growth was seen on high streets, with an 18% rise, followed by retail parks - ahead 16.7% - and shopping centres, up 11.7%.

It is the largest month-on-month increase seen in February since Springboard started publishing data in 2009.

The rise helped temper the annual decline, which now stands at 61%, compared to 65.6% in January. Footfall declined on an annual basis by 68.2% on high streets, by 71.4% in shopping centres and by 34.5% in retail parks.

Springboard said: "This is clear evidence of a growing lockdown fatigue, with shoppers becoming increasingly keen to visit bricks and mortar destinations as a leisure activity, despite non-essential stores remaining closed until April 2021.

"This is likely to be a combination of increased optimism following the announcement of the roadmap to reopening, and the success of the vaccine programme."

Springboard is forecasting a significant uplift in footfall to all retail destinations, of 47.9%, for the first week of reopening on 12 April.

However, Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s marketing and insights director, added a note of caution. "Even with increased consumer confidence generated by the success of the vaccine programme, retailers will have a significant amount of ground to make up if they are to recover to anywhere near pre-Covid levels, reinforcing the need for the high street restart grants to support retailers announced by the chancellor in the budget."