Retail footfall rebounded in February, despite ongoing lockdown restrictions, industry data showed on Thursday.
According to retail consultancy Springboard, footfall rose 16% between January and February, with all destinations reporting an increase. The largest growth was seen on high streets, with an 18% rise, followed by retail parks – ahead 16.7% – and shopping centres, up 11.7%.
It is the largest month-on-month increase seen in February since Springboard started publishing data in 2009.
The rise helped temper the annual decline, which now stands at 61%, compared to 65.6% in January. Footfall declined on an annual basis by 68.2% on high streets, by 71.4% in shopping centres and by 34.5% in retail parks.
Springboard said: “This is clear evidence of a growing lockdown fatigue, with shoppers becoming increasingly keen to visit bricks and mortar destinations as a leisure activity, despite non-essential stores remaining closed until April 2021.
“This is likely to be a combination of increased optimism following the announcement of the roadmap to reopening, and the success of the vaccine programme.”
Springboard is forecasting a significant uplift in footfall to all retail destinations, of 47.9%, for the first week of reopening on 12 April.
However, Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s marketing and insights director, added a note of caution. “Even with increased consumer confidence generated by the success of the vaccine programme, retailers will have a significant amount of ground to make up if they are to recover to anywhere near pre-Covid levels, reinforcing the need for the high street restart grants to support retailers announced by the chancellor in the budget.”
