Half-term helps boost retail footfall in February
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Thursday 02 Mar 2023
(Sharecast News) - Retail footfall jumped in February, industry data showed on Thursday, boosted by the half-term school holiday.
According to retail consultancy MRI Springboard, footfall across all shopping destinations rose 9.4% month-on-month in February, compared to a drop of 18.8% in January.
It was the second-largest monthly increase in February since 2010, with only 2021 seeing stronger growth.
Compared to February 2022, footfall rose 11%. Within that, high streets saw a 16.1% uplift, while footfall increased 9.7% in shopping centres and by 1.4% in retail parks.
However, compared to February 2019, footfall fell 12.5%, an increase on January's year-on-four-year decline of 12.3%.
MRI Springboard said: "Despite the backdrop of the cost of living crisis, footfall in UK destinations in February was remarkably resilient. The month was supported by the school half-term."
Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at MRI Springboard, added: "Footfall remained below 2019, but the uplift from January suggests that this ongoing gap from the pre-pandemic footfall level is due more to a reduction in footfall as a consequence of hybrid working rather than the under-performance of retail.
"Inevitably, this is starting to reveal an emerging structural shift in consumer behaviour that is demonstrating that the weekend is becoming even more important in germs of generating footfall."
Footfall was down 15.4% on 2019 during the weeks in February, but down by 9.3% at the weekends.
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