Scottish shopper footfall sags and vacancies edge up – SRC

The latest SRC-Springboard Footfall and Vacancies Monitor, also shows footfall declined by 3.6 per cent in Scotland in October, the third month of consecutive decline.

This decline is deeper the three-month average of -2.5 per cent and the twelve-month average of -2.9 per cent.

Footfall fell both on the High Street (7.5 per cent), and in Shopping Centres (1.3 per cent) but recorded strong growth of 2.4 per cent in Retail Parks, the fastest rate of growth since August 2017.

David Lonsdale, SRC Director at Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “These figures make for sober reading. Shopper footfall in Scotland shrivelled further in October, and for the third consecutive month. The decline was more pronounced than over the past quarter and year as a whole. The sustained dip in footfall highlights the structural changes taking place within retail, albeit Scotland’s retailers are increasingly adept at harnessing the internet and multi-channel innovations to get through to consumers who might not have time to travel to the shops.

“The shop vacancy rate in our town centres unfortunately nudged up again over the past quarter, reaching its second highest level in seven years. This is the third quarter in a row where the vacancy rate has exceeded 10 per cent, the most sustained period in four and a half years.

“With the clock firmly ticking down towards the Finance Secretary’s Scottish Budget in a few weeks’ time, these figures lend urgency to the cry for convincing action to bolster consumer confidence and to stem the relentless rise in government-inspired cost pressures.”

Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard, said: “If further evidence of the veracity of footfall as an indicator of retail trading performance were required then it is provided by October’s result for Scotland of -3.6 per cent. Not only does it reflect the ongoing challenges that the retail sector is facing but, as importantly, with the decline increasing in magnitude since May it illustrates that the challenges for retailers increased as we moved through the year. The rate of decline in October - greater than the -3.4 per cent drop in September - demonstrates that consumer demand is continuing to weaken which, as we head into the key trading period of the year, suggests that Christmas could be challenging.

“At the same time, while Scotland’s vacancy rate has risen marginally in the last quarter to 11.1 per cent from 10.8 per cent, it is no greater than the rate in Jan 2014 and over the intervening period it averaged 9.5 per cent. This is further evidence that the offer in bricks and mortar destinations is shifting to better accommodate continued consumer demand for experience-led visits. The catalyst was the growth in demand for hospitality and, while this is continuing despite the fact that the growth in eating out visits has slowed since the heady days of 2015, it has opened up opportunities for the introduction of more diverse experience and leisure led propositions in destinations that ultimately may well broaden the definition of retail.”