Saturday sees festive flurry of physical store footfall

UK shopper traffic was up 193% week-on-week on Saturday, according to ShopperTrak data from Sensormatic Solutions.

People used the first weekend after England’s national lockdown to get ahead with Christmas gift buying and pick up items they’d forgone whilst non-essential stores remained closed.

High street footfall increased by +115% when compared to the previous week, while shopping centres saw a +87% improvement.

Retail parks, which were less impacted by lockdown due to their tenant mix of essential business, such as out-of-town supermarkets and DIY brands, also saw improvement to footfall, up +36%.

However, overall retail footfall on Saturday was still 29% down year-on-year.

Andy Sumpter, Sensormatic’s EMEA Retail Consultant for ShopperTrak, comments: “While the festive flurry of footfall on the high street will bring some welcome cheer to retail businesses, many still keenly feeling the impact of lockdown.”

“Retailers will be hoping this pent up demand will continue through Super Saturday (19th) and beyond; that’s the real test.”

Instilling confidence in physical shopping journeys and reassuring consumers that stores are safe will be the cornerstone to ensuring shoppers keep returning, he adds. Not just to support shops, but also their local communities that rely on the high street.

“Careful management of occupancy levels in store, and making the most of extending trade hours to flatten shopper numbers during traditional peak times, will help retailers maintain customer experience while making up for lost sales,” Sumpter concludes.

Sensormatic’s latest data suggests that, due to lockdown and tiered restrictions imposed across the country in November, more than twice as many consumers could hit the high street in December, creating a compressed three week Christmas shopping window.