Plan B impacting retail sales, says recent data

Plan B has impacted retail sales as latest data reveals that retail footfall dropped by 1.1 per cent last week from the previous seven day period despite the fact that Plan B Covid-19 restrictions had not fully come into force.

According to latest data from retail specialist Springboard, the number of visits to Central London was down 3 per cent from the week before while regional cities saw a 1.6 per cent decline.

In contrast, footfall in market towns edged up 1.5 per cent.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said, “The hoped for pre-Christmas boost in trading did not materialise last week, with footfall in UK retail destinations declining from the week before, all of which was driven by a reduction in activity in high streets.

“Footfall did rise in retail parks and shopping centres, but only by a marginal amount which wasn’t enough to deliver an uplift overall.

“Whilst Plan B restrictions, such as advice to work from home if possible, don’t come into force until today, it appears to have already had an impact last week, with a decline in Springboard’s Central London Back to the Office benchmark that was nearly double the drop in footfall in Central London as a whole.”