As the school summer holidays broke for many across the UK and warm weather arrived, retail footfall rose across all retail destinations.
The latest footfall data, from MRI Software, showed a 6.9% rise in shopping centre activity followed by high streets (+4.4%) and retail parks (+3.3%). Such an increase in shopping centre footfall could “signal the start of the summer holidays as families looked to destinations offering a full family experience consisting of retail stores, leisure and dining options,” explained Jenni Matthews, marketing & insights director at MRI Software.
“Warmer weather also played a role, boosting footfall in coastal towns and regional cities outside of London. MRI Software’s Central London ‘Back to Office’ benchmark witnessed a significant lift year on year which may well signal the regional variations in how the summer holidays fall however much of this rise was seen at either end of the week – Monday would have been likely due to the rebound from the week before, and Friday may well be due to the start of many day trips into the city as the school summer holidays get underway.”
The data also showed that coastal towns footfall grew by 9.1% week on week. Cities outside of London also witnessed a healthy boost in activity of 7.4%. With regional variations in schools breaking for the summer, MRI Software’s Central London ‘Back to Office’ benchmark revealed a modest rise in footfall of 2.5%, however the annual rise was much more at 7.8%.
Regionally, footfall rose steadily aside from Wales where it declined by 2.4% week on week and -6% year on year. This contrasts with the rises experienced in Southern parts of the UK where footfall rose by an average of 5.4% and by 4.7% in Scotland.
“This may well highlight the impact of families taking vacations either abroad or other parts of the UK where footfall was much higher especially in Southern parts of the country and Scotland,” noted Matthew.
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