Scottish shopping footfall plummets - but decline is not as bad as the rest of UK

Footfall on Scotland’s shopping streets plunged by almost 40 per cent last month compared with a year earlier, but remained well above the UK average, new figures have revealed.

Scottish footfall has declined less than the rest of the UK.

A report from the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) found that Scottish footfall decreased by 39.7 per cent in November – an 8.5 percentage point deterioration from October. However, in the UK as a while, the figure plummeted by 65.4 per cent.

The SRC said that weekly footfall has steadily declined over the last four weeks as many parts of Scotland have been in stricter lockdown measures, with a sharp drop in the final week of the month when eleven local authorities moving into level four, with all non-essential shops closed.

In Glasgow, which has been in tighter lockdown measures for longer than other parts of the country, year on year footfall decreased by 49 per cent in November, a further 13 percentage point drop from October.

Footfall in Scotland was down 39.7 per cent in Scotland in November.

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “Shopper footfall in Scotland plunged last month as Covid restrictions and concerns over the economy exerted their toll. Visits to retail destinations were down by two-fifths on the comparable period last year, the weakest monthly performance since July. Our largest city and retail destination, Glasgow, fared even worse, with shopper numbers at a paltry half the level of last year.

“The decline affected all retail destinations and became more pronounced as the month wore on, as the government’s footfall-crushing local lockdowns came into effect. This shuttered shops in many parts of Scotland for a second time this year. Those stores forcibly closed have lost out on the best part of £3 billion of revenues so far this year, after what has truly been an annus horribilis for retail. With local lockdowns set to end and shops in these areas permitted to re-open from 11 December, policy makers need to think more creatively about how they can reignite consumer confidence and entice people back to shopping. This could be through free parking or a retail voucher scheme like Northern Ireland is implementing to help stores and high streets through the leaner winter months in the early part of the new year.”

After Northern Ireland, Scotland saw the shallowest Shopping Centre footfall decline of all regions, at minus 38.9 per cent.

Andy Sumpter, retail consultant of ShopperTrak, which co-authored the report, said re-instilling consumer confidence in the safety of stores was “key”.

He said: “With consumer confidence falling to its lowest since May, not even the advent of Black Friday could bring some much needed sparkle to the High Street. With much of the country still under varying restrictions, shoppers stayed away, just at the time retailers need to capitalise on the beginning of the Christmas trading period.

“Retailers have already invested heavily in keeping shoppers safe so they can continue to support the communities they serve. Now they are reliant on the public investing in them by voting with their feet and choosing to ‘use or lose’ the retail businesses on their High Street.”

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