U.K. Store Footfall Slipped on Wet Weather in December

By Michael Susin

Fewer shoppers visited U.K. retail stores in the run-up to Christmas, deterred by heavy rain, according to a British Retail Consortium and Sensormatic Solutions IQ Footfall Monitor report.

Retail-store footfall--comprising high-street, retail-park and shopping-center data--for the five weeks ended Dec. 30 fell 5.0% compared with the same period a year earlier, the report showed Friday. In November, store visits were down 0.7% on year. In October, when Storm Babet hit the U.K., footfall sank 5.7% on year, the sharpest decline of 2023.

"One of the wettest Decembers on record combined with dampened consumer confidence and ongoing spending caution meant some retailers may have been left disappointed in last month's footfall performance," Sensormatic Solutions retail consultant Andy Sumpter said.

"While we saw festive glimmers of shopper traffic peaks in and around discounting days, such as Boxing Day when footfall improved 39.2% week-on-week, many may have been waiting for a last-minute Christmas trading rush that never came."

Shopping-centers continued to suffer the largest drop in visits, with footfall down 7.4% in December. High streets recorded 4.2% decline, while retail-park visits fell by 4.8%.

"There's little doubt that the overall downward year-on-year trajectory in store visits in December--usually the crescendo of the Golden Quarter--will have come as a blow. Retailers will be hoping that demand improves as inflation starts to ease and the impact of the inflationary spending squeeze on disposable incomes softens," Sumpter said.

Write to Michael Susin at michael.susin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 05, 2024 01:44 ET (06:44 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.