Retailers suffer ‘sharp decline’ in footfall
Retail footfall took a dive in September as shoppers stayed away from shopping centres, prompting calls for the Chancellor to slash taxes for high street firms.
In September, the UK’s total retail footfall fell by 2.9 per cent, far worse than the 1.7 per cent decline recorded in the month prior, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
The trade body said the rising tax burden facing retailers means they cannot invest to boost footfall, adding that businesses are “fighting with one hand tied behind their backs”.
The headline decline in footfall was driven down by a 3.5 per cent drop in footfall at shopping centres, which had fallen by only 0.5 per cent in August.
The slowdown in footfall at retail parks worsened from one per cent in August to 1.7 per cent last month, as high street footfall marginally improved from a decline of 3.1 to three per cent.
The BRC said retailers were expecting a seasonal slowdown in shopping trips as the summer’s warm weather faded, but had not predicted the drop-off in traffic to be this pronounced.
Retailers had already suffered mixed fortunes from this year’s multiple heatwaves, as the record temperatures sent online sales soaring at the expense of in-person shop visits.
Andy Sumpter, head of analytics at Sensormatic, which produced the BRC”s data, said retailers “cannot attribute this month’s performance to the weather”.
“Instead, consumers appear increasingly focused on broader economic concerns, including the continued impact of inflation, household spending pressures, fuel costs and uncertainty ahead of the Autumn Budget.”
Inflation ticked up to 3.1 per cent in August and economists have warned that the knock-on effects of the Iran war have eaten away at the government’s fiscal headroom, restricting the number of interventions it can make at the Budget without cutting spending.
‘Help retailers keep prices down’
Helen Dickinson, the BRC’s chief executive, said that retailers will “do all they can to attract shoppers with great value and choice” following last month’s “sharp decline” in footfall.
“But until [the] government acts to reduce the cost of doing business, retailers are fighting with one hand tied behind their backs,” she added.
“By pulling back from another increase in business rates, the Chancellor can use his first Budget to unlock vital investment in our shops and high streets, help retailers keep prices down and provide jobs across the country.”
On Thursday, the boss of Tesco called on the government to exempt retailers from the highest business rates multiplier, following up similar calls by the chief of John Lewis.
Ken Murphy, chief executive of the UK’s biggest grocer, said: “We have long argued that the rate system is fundamentally unfair, that retailers pay – on average – four times their fair share of rates.”