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The decline in UK retail footfall worsened last month, in a ‘subdued’ end to the third-quarter, numbers on Friday showed, with focus now turning to the vital Christmas period.
According to the latest British Retail Consortium-Sensormatic IQ tracker, UK retail footfall fell 2.9% on-year in September, worsening from a 1.6% fall in August.
‘During the warmer-than-expected weather, footfall slowed in September, with fewer shoppers across all shopping locations,’ BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said.
In high street alone, footfall decreased by 1.7% annually in September, after a 0.9% fall in August. Retail parks suffered a 2.4% footfall decline. Footfall in retail parks had been flat on-year in August. Shopping centre footfall fell 4.0% yearly last month, worsening from a 3.8% decline previously.
Sensormatic Solutions analyst Andy Sumpter said: ‘Rather than the traditional ’back to school’ boost to shopper traffic we would normally expect to see in September, footfall remained subdued as consumer caution on discretionary spending stayed high, perhaps prompted by shoppers withholding spend to save ahead of the golden quarter and Christmas. While retailers will be hoping this month‘s first fall in food prices in two years will mark the beginning of the end of inflationary-driven pressure on household budgets, many will recognise that the reality of inflationary-driven interest rates and consequently higher mortgages and rent payments - will be with us ’higher and for longer’, meaning once again retailers will be required to run faster just to stand still.’
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