High streets warned of lower than pre-Covid footfall this Christmas

The number of people visiting UK shops this Christmas could remain almost a fifth below pre-pandemic levels as shoppers struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, stated a forecast by Springboard. 

Retail footfall in December is expected to be 18 per cent lower than the same month in 2019, said the retail data company. That would be a much worse hit than to retail parks, where visitor numbers are predicted to be six per cent lower than three years ago.   

Springboard’s data suggests footfall across all UK retail destinations has moved closer to pre-pandemic levels as the year has progressed. However, it sees the trend reversing in autumn. 

Diane Wehrle, the data company’s marketing and insights director, said the usual drop in spending between August and September would be deeper than usual “due to consumers’ fears over the impact of the rise in energy costs expected in October on their household budgets”. 

Households could shift their spending patterns in the run-up to Christmas, Wehrle said. Springboard predicted a smaller than usual drop in footfall from October to November as shoppers are predicted to bring forward Christmas purchases to the Black Friday discount window to save. 

Springboard’s prediction came a day after another industry report claimed that a third of UK households are already trading down to cheaper products and making use of promotions. 

Revealing the report, Linda Ellett, the UK head of consumer markets, retail and leisure at KPMG, said that it is clear that “consumers are responding where they can – altering how much they buy, what they buy and where they buy it”.

The economy is already in recession, the Bank of England said last week, adding that interest rates are likely to rise further to combat inflation, which is near a 40-year high. Households are braced for steep increases in energy bills on Sunday, even after an energy price freeze by the government that is expected to cost £60bn or more.