Footfall Index
Published: 13 January, 2011
Month-on-month growth for December 2010 is in-line with previous years at 19 per cent.
December has historically seen footfall levels increase month-on-month and over the past two years this increase has been around +19 per cent. This year also saw a month-on-month growth of +19 per cent which is therefore in-line with previous years. Footfall dropped by -3.1 per cent year-on-year however, which is in fact the largest year-on-year drop all year.
The main reason for this was that heavy snow and icy roads hit most of the UK from the beginning of December and persisted throughout the month with further accumulations of snow and continuing icy road conditions lasting up until Christmas. Footfall did increase weekly up to Christmas day but did not reach levels seen in the past two years as the weather held back shoppers.
The week up to Christmas day is notoriously the largest footfall week of the year but as people struggled with the roads, it didn’t live up to expectations. There was a little increase year-on-year on the 23rd and 24th of December as shoppers had run out of time to shop and would have braved the conditions to rush those last minute purchases. Those year-on-year increases were +2.2 per cent and +1.3 per cent respectively though and would have by no means compensated for the loss in footfall in the weeks leading up to them.
The post Christmas sales were therefore more important than ever as retailers would have looked to claw back the loss of footfall pre Christmas. Although the adverse weather eased off and driving conditions got considerably better for most of the UK, Boxing Day saw footfall drop by -19.8 per cent year-on-year.
This was however a comparison issue: Boxing Day 2010 fell on a Sundaywhereas Boxing Day 2009 fell on a Saturday so there were around four hours less trading this year. The real measure therefore would be to compare the three days post Christmas which showed 26th, 27th, and 28th versus the year before; comparing equal year-on-year trading hours.
The three days post Christmas saw footfall increase by +7.7 per cent. This was a relatively large increase in year-on-year terms and was the result of pent-up shopper demand pre Christmas, looming VAT rises on January 4th 2011 and big retail discounts.
The Retail Park index decreased by -3.5 per cent year-on-year which virtually mirrored the UK National picture throughout December. Retail parks did see better growth year-on-year for week commencing 13 December, perhaps when the weather was at its worst for many regions. It did however fall slightly behind on all other weeks showing shoppers would have preferred the relative comfort and shelter the shopping centre brings over the retail park.
While Christmas was key for retailers and footfall a major part in that, the New Year will bring a new challenge and the increased VAT may play its part. There was however, heavy snow at the beginning of January 2010 for much of the UK which will complicate the year-on-year footfall comparison when made in the New Year.
