Shopper footfall falls this Bank Holiday Weekend

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Aug 30, 2016

The number of shoppers in retail destinations dropped by 3.3% this August Bank Holiday Weekend, compared with the same weekend last year, according to retail experts Springboard.

The drop, which accounted for trading from Saturday through Monday, came as a surprise. Springboard had estimated footfall to grow by 6.5% year-on-year.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard said: “Part of this drop will be due to the rain in some parts of the country, but certainly not all of it as rainy summer days are a long term characteristic in the UK. The fact that footfall improved significantly post 5pm, when it was also raining, highlights the growing demand for leisure activities – hospitality, food and beverage trips.”

Despite the fall, footfall experienced a significant increase post 5pm on Sunday and Monday, indicating consumer preferences for dining and leisure activities.

During night time hours (between 8pm and 12am) high street footfall rose even more from last year – by 10.4% and 12.7% on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, a huge 27.4% increase was recorded on high streets between 8pm-12am.

Shopping centres also saw an increase in night-time footfall with a 17.1% growth on Saturday and 17.4% on Sunday. 

Diane continues: “These results indicate the growth in trips focusing on experience rather than trips purely to buy products, and the growth of the hospitality sector.” 

“The other trend this seems to support is a lessening importance of bank holidays as shopping days, a result Springboard has seen over the last couple of years and follows on from dips in footfall recorded in Easter and on Boxing Day 2015,” she added.

The declines could be linked to the rise of online shopping, added Springboard. E-commerce data experts, PCA Predict saw an increase in online activity of 5.1% overall compared with 2015, though their online retail tracker saw traffic slow on Monday as the sun came out across the UK.