The holiday season could bring much more than some festive cheer this year, as UK retailers have begun to pin their hopes on an increase in sales after a challenging few weeks.
According to recent Sensormatic data by the British Retail Consortium, high street footfall dropped by 3.7 per cent in November, down from -3.6 per cent in October.
Retail park and shopping centre footfall also tumbled, with a decline of 1.1 per cent and 6.1 per cent, suggesting that consumers across the entire nation “were hesitant to hit the shops”.
Overall footfall across all nations fell this month, with Northern Ireland down 2.8 per cent, Scotland by 6.8 per cent, England by 4.2 per cent and Wales 7.1 per cent.
London has the second biggest drop by 2.5 per cent, behind Bristol at 7.7 per cent.
The data covered the four weeks between 27 October and 23 November, leaving this year’s Black Friday one to potentially boost retailers’ optimism for the new year.
“Retailers remain hopeful that the Black Friday and Christmas sales will help to turn around the declining footfall seen through most of 2024, crucial as we enter the golden quarter,” Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said.
“Retail not only contributes to the economy of local areas but is essential to everyday life in communities across the country,” Dickinson added.
Tackling the “post-Budget jitters”
The troubles caused by a decrease in footfall follow what is already been seen as a challenging time for retailers, Dickinson said, including the recent rise in employers’ national insurance and minimum wage.
The retail chief also warned earlier this week that tax-raising measures announced in the latest government may lead to the return of inflation in the UK.
This is despite prices remaining in deflation in November, down 0.6 per cent month on month, up from deflation of 0.8 per cent in the previous month.
But, Dickinson implied that “significant price pressures on the horizon” could mean that November’s figures “may signal the end of falling inflation.”
Consumer confidence has taken a hit, “perhaps not helped by post-Budget spending jitters,” Andy Sumpter, retail consultant EMEA for Sensormatic, said.
Sumpter added: “This lacklustre footfall performance will have come as a blow for many retailers, who would have been counting on getting early Christmas trading results under their belts before the start of advent.
“However, it’s worth noting that these figures do not include Black Friday and the Saturday of the Black Friday weekend – tipped as one of the top busiest days for store shopping during peak trading – which will hopefully jump start seasonal shopping.