UK footfall plummets as lockdown hit retailers miss Black Friday boost
Year-on-year UK footfall decreased by 65.4% in November, with a 31.9 percentage point decline from October, according to research from the BRC and ShopperTrak.
Footfall on high streets declined by 63.9% YoY, retail parks by 26.8% YoY and shopping centres by 61.8%.
In England, non-essential shops and other businesses were permitted to reopen on 2nd December for the first time in four weeks, the result of a coronavirus lockdown.
On that day, footfall increased by 150% compared with the previous week and decreased -26% on the previous year.
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive at British Retail Consortium, says: “With the majority of stores closed, many missed out on the usual Black Friday boost to store visits as customers hunted for bargains online instead.”
“Retail parks were hit less hard thanks to a higher proportion of supermarkets and other essential stores in those locations, slightly mitigating the overall drop in footfall. Now that all of retail is open again, customers can get out and do their Christmas shopping confident that stores are Covid secure and retailers are doing everything to keep them safe.”
After two lockdowns in England, and a shortened Christmas trading period, many retailers are feeling the pressure in the final weeks of the year, she adds. ‘Non-essential’ retailers face mounting rent bills on top of a return to full business rates liability from April 2021.
The government, she says, must address this by extending the moratorium on debt enforcement, giving retailers and landlords more time to negotiate, and extending rates relief for the worst affected businesses into next year.
“Without this, parts of the industry face the stark reality of being unable to pay their bills, resulting in further job losses and store closures, and setting back any wider economic recovery,” Dickinson concludes.
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