Welsh retail footfall experienced a decline in 2024

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’s fall of 7.1% figure, although in 2023 the November period benefitted from Black Friday trading. For the UK as a whole the year-on-year decline was marginally lower than Wales at 2.2%.

Across the nations and regions of the UK 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 UK’s key core cities show Cardiff in December down 3.5% year-on-year. The only UK cities to experience a rise were Birmingham, up 4.8% and Glasgow 0.2%.

Sara Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said: “Visits to stores in Wales slipped back in December compared to the same period the year before, rounding off a pretty drab ‘golden quarter’ 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.

“There’s 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.

“This 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.”

The research was undertaken by Sensormatic Solutions. On the UK picture retail consultant for the firm, Andy Sumpter, said: “While 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.