High-street footfall remains well below pre-pandemic levels, according to new data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The BRC’s updated footfall monitor found that the number of consumers visiting businesses on foot was still 12.5% lower than pre-Covid levels. This includes visitors to shopping centres and out-of-town retail parks.
These figures all but confirm that the cost-of-living crisis has already made a severe dent in the disposable income of households up and down the country. This, combined with the continued shift towards homeworking, has led to quieter high streets and stores for retailers.
Trips specifically to shopping centres were down by over 25% compared with 2019 levels, while high streets had seen 14% fewer shoppers than in 2019. The regions hit hardest included Scotland, Wales, London and the northeast of England, with the northwest of England and the East Midlands seemingly getting off lighter.
However, visitors to Britain’s high streets are up 19% on average year-on-year. This is due to the consistently warm, dry weather that the UK has experienced in recent weeks. Furthermore, the Platinum Jubilee celebrations also “offered an added boost to footfall”, according to the BRC’s chief executive, Helen Dickinson.
Those positive short-term figures were cautioned with words of warning from Dickinson, who said that recent improvements to footfall remained “fragile as the cost of living bites”. Dickinson warned that plummeting consumer confidence and continued inflation meant it was “by no means certain” that the recovery of high-street footfall would stay on track.
How businesses are thinking differently to curb costs
With inflation biting and consumer confidence on a knife-edge, small retailers are having to think outside of the box to simply keep pace with the competition. According to Barclays’ SME Barometer, three-quarters of SMEs feared the cost-of-living crisis would cause long-term damage to their operations.
One quick yet unfortunate way small businesses can limit their risk is to scale back their short-to-medium-term growth plans. Many entrepreneurs are weighing up conserving their cash for other priorities such as retaining their existing workforce. Some are also considering cutting back on their costs to third-party service providers like brand and PR agencies, which are deemed a quick way to curb overheads.
Another way that retailers are attempting to keep a lid on their overheads is to optimise the efficiency of their receipt and invoice management processes. There are applications that now make it possible to digitally capture, pre-account and validate invoices for payment. These invoice applications also provide a transparent audit trail of every invoice, from payment requests to approval and payment clearance. This gives entrepreneurs more time to focus on doing what they do best – growing their businesses.
Streamlined processes and more time to spend on nurturing businesses is especially crucial in this economy. Dr Jackie Mulligan, a member of the UK government’s High Streets Task Force and founder of Shopappy, described the situation as “nothing short of a national emergency”. Mulligan said that consumers “more than ever” should look to spend “what they do have” with local retailers to “support them and their communities”. Although Chancellor Rishi Sunak promised an increase in Employment Allowance and a 5p cut to fuel duty per litre, many high street businesses viewed Sunak’s moves as a missed opportunity to ease the burden on sole traders and local firms that need support the most.
