Unseasonably warm weather has taken its toll on retailers, with the milder than expected temperatures putting something of a dampener on the launch of autumn and winter collections, and adversely affecting footfall levels throughout the country.
Overall, retail destinations in the UK suffered from a 0.9 per cent dip in footfall levels on a year on year basis during September. The high street was a major casualty of this, with footfall dropping by 0.6 per cent, yet it was shopping centres which fared the worst with a 2.6 per cent plunge in consumer numbers.
British Retail Consortium (BRC) director general Helen Dickinson is optimistic that this dip in footfall will improve as the peak Christmas shopping season, approaches.
She says; “As online sales increase overall we can see how shopping is changing and retailers are adapting.
“The industry is working hard on providing great online shopping experiences for consumers and this too impacts footfall.
“However, with Christmas fast approaching footfall is only set to increase on the high street, out of town and in shopping centres.”
The only category which experienced a rise in footfall was out of town retail parks, which saw shopper numbers rise slightly when compared to the same period last year.
However, when examined on a regional basis, the high street and shopping centres did not fare so badly. In Scotland, for example, footfall numbers climbed by 2 per cent, although this was not enough to make up for a 5.6 per cent plunge in the West Midlands.
Although this latest news from the BRC and Springboard’s Retail Footfall Monitor may cause some retailers to panic, the good news is that autumn has officially arrived with a cold snap ending the spell of unseasonably warm weather. This, the industry believes, will boost the demand for items such as coats, boots and scarves which is expected to last well into next year.
Furthermore, the latest data is certainly an improvement on figures recorded in August, which saw a 1.1 per cent decline in footfall numbers. In fact, September’s results are directly in line with the three month average drop of 0.9 per cent, indicating that the situation may soon improve as consumers gear up for Christmas.
Springboard retail insights director, Diane Wehrle, believes that the weather was the root cause for September’s footfall levels.
She says; “If the weather had been more akin to the norm for this time of year it is likely the result would have been more favourable.
“Being dominated by fashion – and the fact that it was fashion sales that were the hardest hit – it is not surprising that the greatest toll is on shopping centres, although the degree of increase in footfall in out of town locations that we have come to expect is also greatly reduced.”
Do you think consumers will warm up to winter lines as the temperature drops?
