Shopper numbers crash as English lockdown gets underway
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Monday 09 Nov 2020
(Sharecast News) - The UK retail sector enjoyed a brief surge last week, before shopper numbers crashed as England's second lockdown came into effect.
According to the latest data from retail consultancy Springboard, footfall rose by an average of 11.7% over Sunday 1 to Thursday 5 November week-on-week, peaking at 20.4% on Wednesday.
But it fell by an average of 46.7% on Thursday, as lockdown restrictions come into effect and non-essential shops closed, and by 61.6% during the rest of the week.
As a consequence, footfall across all UK retail destinations over the week to 7 November was down 15.4% on the previous week, and by 38.6% year-on-year.
Shopping centres reported the greatest weekly decline, down 18.9%. Footfall on high streets was down 16.2% and by 9.7% in retail parks.
Diane Wehrle, insight director at Springboard, said: "Last week was in the clearest sense a week of two halves. With the second lockdown announced on Saturday evening, but not coming into force until Thursday, it was inevitable that there would be a last minute surge in activity."
Looking ahead, Wehrle added: "The bounce back effect of footfall on high streets and in shopping centres after the 2 December may illuminate whether the Christmas season can provided a much-needed boost to the retail sector."
Across individual regions, the greatest year-on-year decline was 70.2% in Wales, where a so-called "firebreak" lockdown was already underway. The second-highest faller was East Midlands, where footfall was down 40.0%.
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