High streets and shopping centres in the UK are failing to woo customers despite an increase in the number of town-centre shops open for business.
The latest footfall survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard suggests there is still ample reason for concern over the death of the high street. During the past 12 months, the country’s high streets have seen a 2.2% decline in traffic, while the number of people frequenting shopping centres has dropped by a significant 2.5%, the report said.
The rise of online delivery services, as well as many high street shops having their own internt-based stores, has been one factor behind the steady fall in the numbers shopping on the traditional high street, as more and more customers have converted to buying on the web.
But John Munro, external affairs advisor at the BRC, said it wasn’t just the ability to order products online that had altered the retail landscape.
“The way that we shop has changed. It’s not only internet shopping, but it certainly has a lot to do with it; as people are now shopping in different ways. Whereas before people browsed at the shops, they are now researching online before they go shopping, and then going out to directly purchase,” Munro said.
One bright spot for retailers was the success of retail parks, which faired significantly better than last year, bringing the total loss of footfall in British shops to 1.1%.
Helen Dickinson, director general of the BRC, said: “The continued popularity of retail parks will cheer retailers who have invested in these locations – a footfall increase of 3.1% is the highest we’ve seen since May 2014.”
There are now more retail outlets in town centres than at any time since 2011, with the vacancy rate standing at just 9.8%, 0.3% lower than last year.
“The vacancy rate has remained stubbornly high – the dip below 10% for the first time may be indicative of successful attempts to reshape Britain’s high streets in some locations,” Dickinson said.
She warnedthat the vacancy rate will rise unless retailers succeed in enticing people back to the shops.
“No matter how successful high streets are in re-inventing themselves, if they can’t deliver increased footfall we could easily see vacancy rates climbing again,” she said.
The only region to report positive footfall growth was Greater London, with the rest of the UK recording severe declines in some areas. Northern Ireland and Wales especially struggled to attract patrons over the past year, experiencing footfall declines of 4.5% and 4.4%, respectively.
