Total UK footfall dropped last month due to the “sunless summer”, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has revealed.
The trade association found high street footfall was down by 0.9% in August year-on-year, from +1.6% in July.
Meanwhile, retail parks footfall stayed the same, while shopping centre footfall dipped 3.8% during the same period.
England experienced a drop in footfall of 1.3%, followed by Wales at -1.7% and Northern Ireland at -4.7%.
However, Scotland saw a rise in its footfall of 0.4%.
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BRC CEO Helen Dickinson said:”Footfall took a turn for the worse in August as the summer sun failed to materialise.
“The impact was made worse when compared to last year’s heatwave, where many shoppers rushed to the shops to buy clothing, BBQs and other outdoor essentials.
“This month it was shopping centres that took the biggest hit, while high streets were also significantly down on last year.”
Sensormatic Solutions Retail Consultant EMEA Andy Sumpter also noted: “While total footfall was down, August showed some positive performance when it came to destination shopping with some travel and tourism hub cities, including Edinburgh, London, Liverpool and Manchester, showing positive upticks from ambient footfall boosted by tourism and school holiday staycations”.
This comes as retail sales plummeted for the second time this year as July’s wash out led to a bigger than expected drop.
July’s constant downpour and lucrative promotions also pushed shoppers online, with 27.4% of retail sales taking place digitally – the highest proportion since February 2022.
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