Britons were keen to get back onto the high street when lockdown ended but, according to retail analyst, Springboard, footfall is still 30 per cent down on the same period last year.
The marketing director of Springboard, Diane Wehrle, said: ‘Part of this is timing – the proximity to Christmas means there is huge pent up demand amongst consumers to shop in store to purchase gifts.
‘However, it is also an indicator of ‘lockdown fatigue’, whereby after many months of being restricted to their homes, consumers are keen to visit retail stores again, particularly to experience the excitement of Christmas.’
On Saturday, retail parks saw slightly higher footfall than this time last year, but by Sunday figures were 10% below 2019.
2020 has been supremely challenging for British retail, with analysis by the Local Data Company and Springboard suggesting shop vacancies could rise to 18,000, the highest level since 2013. This is despite soaring online sales which saw around £2.5billion spent on Black Friday, benefiting retailers including John Lewis, where sales soared by 35 per cent.
Debit card data from Nationwide showed transactions were up 21 per cent, a 2 per cent increase on Black Friday last year, while the Argos website saw 113 visits per second.
Bank of England chief economist said many British families have managed to hoard £100billion of ‘excess savings’ during lockdown and are willing to spend it, saying there is huge ‘pent-up demand’ to splash the cash post lockdown. All around the country retailers are well aware of this fact and are currently pulling out the stops to tempt consumers in store.
