UK footfall growth slows further in March, remains below pre-pandemic

Growth in UK retail footfall decelerated further in March amid cost-of-living pressures and strike disruption, new data on Friday revealed.

Total UK footfall increased by 6.8% in March against the previous year, slowing from an annual increase of 10.4% in February.

March’s rise in footfall was worse than the 3-month average of 9.5%, according to data from BRC-Sensormatic IQ.

Compared to pre-pandemic levels, total UK footfall fell by 10.2% against March 2019.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: ‘Footfall remains below pre-pandemic levels, and the rate of strong recovery slowed in March. Households avoided big ticket purchases, resulting in lower footfall at Retail Parks, meanwhile High Streets and Shopping Centres saw strong footfall growth as these locations continued to make up ground lost during the pandemic.’

High street footfall increased 8.6% in March against the year prior, while shopping centre footfall increased by 8.2%. Both figures slowed from the previous month, however, and were below the three-month average.

‘Another sign of the return to pre-pandemic footfall patterns is the return of weekend shopping, as the ongoing return to the office caused many to refocus their shopping trips back to the weekend,’ Dickinson added.

Andy Sumpter, retail consultant for Senormatic Solutions, said the improvement in shopper traffic during March was ‘no small feat’ given the backdrop of ongoing cost-of-living pressures, high inflation and strike disruption.

‘Retail parks remained the outlier, with a slightly more suppressed recovery due to their tenant mix of predominantly furniture, kitchen and bed retail outlets, as shoppers expressed spending caution and held off purchasing big ticket items,’ he said.

Footfall in retail parks fell 5.9% in March against the previous year.

The figures cover the five weeks from February 26 to April 1.

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