The following analysis contains data for the devices at Westdaw (64-65), Bernard Marcus, Dorking Light & Shade, Renee’s Health Food Store, Westcott & Williams and The Optical Studio.
- Footfall in April was boosted by the reopening of shops and the return of outdoor service across the hospitality sector.
- Footfall was down slightly in the week of the reopening, mainly in comparison to strong footfall at the start of the month and as a result of the colder weather.
- Footfall was up 17.2% in the week after the reopening, with footfall starting to return to the high street with more shops open for trade.
- Footfall is expected to continue to rise in May, with the warmer weather and the reopening of indoor service within the hospitality sector.
Weekly Footfall Profile
- Figure 1 shows how weekly footfall has compared year on year for the month of April.
- The spread of weekly footfall in April 2021 started to rebalance across the week. This was particularly evident in the weekday footfall patterns, with footfall on Wednesday in 2021 down 5% when compared to 2020.
- The reopening of shops had an impact on footfall levels on the key trading days, with footfall on Friday up 3% and on Saturday up 2%, showing that consumers were keen to return to the shops with pent-up demand built up during the 3rd lockdown.
Overall Footfall Volume
- Figure 2 shows the weekly footfall throughout April across the active footfall devices.
- Westdaw saw footfall increase in week-on-week across the whole month of April, with footfall peaking in Week 18.
- The majority of the devices saw footfall decline in Week 15, the week retail reopened with this likely to be due to the colder weather the country experienced with storms, snow and heavy rain.
- The warmer weather in Week 16 saw footfall rise significantly as shown in Figure 3.
- Figure 3 shows how footfall has trended in April. The reopening of shops in Week 15 did cause footfall to rise as significantly as expected, with some shops slower to reopen as they restocked and prepared to open after 3 months of closure.
Week on Week Change in Footfall
- Figure 4 shows the percentage change in footfall week-on-week in April 2021, showing the rise in footfall across all devices in Week 16 the week after all shops reopened, outdoor hospitality opened and restrictions on group sizes were lifted.
- Westdaw saw the biggest increase in footfall across all the devices in the week of reopening, with an 80% rise in footfall at the store.
- Different devices saw different patterns, with Westdaw seeing week-on-week rises since the reopening, while Bernard Marcus saw footfall drop in the first two weeks before rising in Week 17. This showed that the essential retailers saw a slight drop off in footfall, with the reopening of non-essential retailers meaning they had to share footfall and consumers’ attention.
- Figure 5 shows the week-on-week percentage change in footfall across all devices. The data shows that the biggest rise in footfall was in Week 16, when fairer weather following shops being able to reopen saw the high street enjoy its biggest increase in footfall in April.
