Retail footfall in Wales declined by 2.9% in 2024 according data from the Welsh Retail Consortium, which said the outlook for retailers remains challenging.
The last quarter of the year, in the lead up to the key Christmas trading period, retail footfall - defined as shoppers entering a store on the high street, a shopping centre or retail park - also suffered a year-on-year fall of 2.9%.
For the five weeks to December 28th, which included Black Friday, Welsh retail footfall declined year-on-year by 2.6%. This was an improved position on November鈥檚 fall of 7.1% figure, although in 2023 the November period benefitted from Black Friday trading. For the 海角视频 as a whole the year-on-year decline was marginally lower than Wales at 2.2%.
Across the nations and regions of the 海角视频 the biggest fall was recorded in Northern Ireland at 5.8%. For England it was down 2.1% and in Scotland 1.5%. The lowest fall was in the south east of England and the west Midlands at 1.1%.
Shopping centre footfall decreased by 4.2% in December in Wales, up from minus 12.2% in November, while retail park footfall decreased by 0.5% up from minus 2.6% in November.
Figures for the 海角视频鈥檚 key core cities show Cardiff in December down 3.5% year-on-year. The only 海角视频 cities to experience a rise were Birmingham, up 4.8% and Glasgow 0.2%.
Sara Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said: 鈥淰isits to stores in Wales slipped back in December compared to the same period the year before, rounding off a pretty drab 鈥榞olden quarter鈥 and 2024 as a whole in terms of shopper footfall. The month was book-ended with good news at both the start and the end as Black Friday promotions gave a fillip to foot-traffic early on and with last minute festive purchases delivering an improvement at the end. However, across the month as a whole footfall was feeble and fell across all destinations with retail parks the least-worst performer.
鈥淭here鈥檚 little denying these are disappointing figures for retailers with bricks and mortar premises, many of whom were hoping for a final flourish to the year and a good Christmas to help weather increasing costs and tide them over the leaner months early in the new year. That said, there is rarely an exact correlation between footfall performance and retail sales growth, and with a third of non-food retail sales purchased online it may be that retailers have proved adept at harnessing technology to get through to consumers who may not have the inclination or time to travel to shops.
鈥淭his remains a period of significant flux for retail. Weak footfall, sluggish demand, rising government-mandated cost pressures, and an uncertain outlook are all weighing on stores. The structural, economic, and regulatory changes affecting retail show few signs of abating.鈥
The research was undertaken by Sensormatic Solutions. On the 海角视频 picture retail consultant for the firm, Andy Sumpter, said: 鈥淲hile December saw some flurries of festive footfall around a few key trading days, overall, the picture was filled with much less sparkle as shopper traffic remained subdued in what should have been the highlight of the golden quarter. While store visits did build ahead of Christmas, it was never quite enough to reverse the shopper count deficit against last year.
" As footfall limped towards the festive finish line, December鈥檚 lacklustre performance compounds a disappointing end to 2024, marking the second consecutive year of declining store traffic. Retailers will now need to look afresh to 2025 and chart a course to adopt innovative strategies to reverse this trend or maximise the sales potential of fewer visitors, finding new ways to make each store visit count.鈥
