According to the British Retail Consortium and Shoppertrak’s data, October saw marginally better footfall than the 35% drop in September and the 43% fall witnessed in August. 

Meanwhile, shopper footfall in Glasgow was down 36% in October compared to the same period last year, a deterioration on the 29% fall in September and the 35% decline recorded in August.

Across the UK as a whole, Year on year footfall decreased by 33.5% in October, with a 3.4 percentage point decline from September. This remains below the longer-term 12-month average decline of 32.9%. 

Footfall on UK High Streets declined by 39.3% year on year making it the worst performing location in October and the worst performing location for the third consecutive month.  

UK retail parks saw footfall decrease by 9.3% year on year, below the three-month average decline of 7.5% but above the 12-month average decline of 19.4%. 

UK shopping centre footfall declined by 37.7% year on year. This was just under a two percentage point decline compared to September but was just above the 12-month average decline of 37.8%.

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “Shopper footfall continues to buckle under the weight of the pandemic, associated COVID-19 restrictions and warnings about using public transport, and economic uncertainty. Visits to retail destinations in Scotland are languishing a third lower than last year, and make for unnerving reading for retailers in this early part of the crucial Christmas trading period.

“Scotland’s shops will only survive with the patronage of the public, especially in the run up to the festive period. Retailers are playing their part in trying to tempt shoppers though promotions and pricing, but policy makers need to think more creatively too about how they can entice people back into our retail destinations, perhaps through free parking for the next seven weeks or vouchers or incentives to encourage customers to the shops.”

Helen Dickinson OBE, chief-executive of British Retail Consortium, added: “While footfall remains well below pre-pandemic levels, the slow recovery since April has come to an end in October with footfall falling across all retail locations. High streets and shopping centres fared much worse as the public shunned city centres in favour of out of town locations with their on-site parking. More recently, the Government’s announcement of a second national lockdown led to a brief resurgence in footfall this week as the public sought to buy much needed items and Christmas gifts before ‘non-essential’ stores were forced to close their doors for a second time.

“Today’s lockdown is likely to see footfall plummet to the depths seen during the previous closures, putting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk. Despite investment in online and click-and-collect services it is unlikely closed retailers will be able to make up for lost ground. Any extension to the lockdown beyond 3rd December would be catastrophic for ‘non-essential’ retail businesses so we urge the govt to commit to allowing them to reopen from this date safe in the knowledge that the previous reopening did not lead to any spike in infections.

“Furthermore, the Government must wholeheartedly support those businesses they have forced to close, both now and in the future. With non-food shop sales still 30% down over the last six months, it is vital these retailers do not face a cliff-edge of 100% business rates liability from April 2021.”