It was a mixed pictured for UK retail footfall in August with shopping centres seeing a jump of 2.3 per cent, retail parks a small increase of 0.8 per cent, while the high street dipped 1.2 per cent.
The latest data from MRI Software highlights the impact of the fifth UK heatwave and back to school purchases.
On 13 August, high streets were hit by the heat with visits falling by 9.5 per cent week-on-week and 8.6 per cent year-on-year. However, coastal destination benefited with footfall boosted 2.4 per cent week-on-week.
As heavy rain and flooding struck the UK in the final week of August there was a 3 per cent week-on-week dip in high street footfall. Shopping centres visits increased 2.4 per cent and retail parks by 1.4 per cent.
Jenni Matthews, retail insights analyst at MRI Software, said: “Footfall is becoming increasingly fluid, with consumers quick to change their plans based on factors such as weather, convenience and local experiences.
“This is creating a growing gap between destinations that simply provide places to shop and those that provide compelling reasons to visit, making relevance and adaptability more important than ever.”
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Unsurprisingly, back to school shopping drove footfall increases. MRI Software’s Inside survey of over 700 store managers found that 50 per cent saw back to school shopping building momentum throughout August.
In a recent interview with Retail Gazette, Google UKI retail and CPG managing director Sophie Neary described this back to school rush as a major retail moment.
Neary explained: “It’s £1.5bn of retail spend. It’s the second biggest retail moment after the golden quarter, and every retailer has to take it seriously.”
Google has seen back to school shopping starting earlier than many retailers might expect, with seven in 10 parents beginning their shopping in June and 85 per cent starting essentials shopping at the very beginning of the summer holidays.
“Parents want to get ahead of the holidays and don’t want to have to spend all their holidays shopping,” she noted.
Photo by Josh Maddocks on Unsplash
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