Consumer footfall in UK high streets increased marginally in June, despite a drop in shopping locations across the country as a whole.
The BRC Sensormatic IQ Footfall Monitor for June showed that footfall on the high street increased slightly by +0.6% year on year, up from 0.5% in May. Total UK footfall decreased by 1.9% in June by the same measure, with retail parks and shopping centres showing significant declines. The recent warm weather and a new influx of international tourists are being credited as being behind much of the changes in shopping patterns.
Jeff Moody, commercial director of the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA) said: “Footfall is down and we do need government support but the high street is leading on retail recovery as this report shows that business parks and shopping centres are still low when it comes to shoppers.
“The decrease in footfall reflects the ongoing impact of changing shopping patterns and the influence of external factors such as the weather. Figures for June show that the year-on-year footfall data indicated an increase during the early months of the year, with January showing a notable increase compared to the previous year, followed by February and March with smaller yet positive increases.
“There is some positive news for independent retailers in that the high street footfall showed some improvement of 0.6% whilst retail park footfall dropped 2.6% in June and shopping centre footfall dropped a massive 4.2% in June.”
He added: “Whilst we know the cost of living is impacting heavily on retail shopping figures, we feel action now by the government to change the cumbersome burden of business rates which are crippling struggling retailers at present, would aid investment in the sector which could lead to rejuvenated high streets which is where most consumers wish to spend their money.”
