Retailers warn of fragile confidence among shoppers as figures show that the number of visitors to the UK’s main streets, shopping malls and shopping malls last month remained 12.5% lower than before the pandemic.
The shift to work from home and worries about the cost of living continue to hamper trade, with shopping center visits falling by more than a quarter compared to 2019, while main streets had 14% fewer visitors.
Scotland, Wales, North East England and London fared much worse than the East Midlands and North West England, according to the latest monitoring of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), conducted in partnership with buyer surveillance operator Sensormatic Solutions.
The declines marked a slight improvement in April, with major streets recovering particularly sharply.
The number of visitors also increased significantly compared to last year – by an average of 19% for all types of destinations – as the warm sunny weather and the prospect of the upcoming anniversary celebrations helped increase sales.
Helen Dickinson, CEO of BRC, which represents most of the UK’s largest retailers, said: “The UK’s progress has made little progress for the third month in a row, as the particularly warm May weather has prompted more people to shop in person.
“The anticipation of the anniversary celebrations offered an extra boost to visitors as the audience flocked to the shops to find the best decorations and holiday food and drinks for the long weekend.”
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She added: “Improving gait remains fragile as the cost of living bites. As the UK’s discretionary income declines, financial support from the government to tackle rising energy costs can only provide a temporary break for households. As inflation continues to rise and consumer confidence falls, it is by no means certain that growth will continue to improve in the coming months. “
Andy Sumpter of Sensormatic Solutions said the UK’s main streets are recovering more than other G7 countries, with visitor numbers in Germany and Italy falling by about 20% in May and in France by nearly 22%.
However, Sumpter warned: “As households begin to feel the pinch of rising living costs and rising inflationary pressures, retailers will hope that cracks will not begin to appear in the recovery process. As they look forward to June, retailers will hope that the main streets will be gathered from the jubilee weekend celebrations and that the event will encourage customer traffic and retail spending. ”
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