Ipsos Retail Performance’s Retail Traffic Index (RTI) shows that shopping footfall in the UK fell 2.6% last week (beginning 6th December), compared to last year. Ipsos believes that 2015 will be a ‘muted’ Christmas for the UK high street.
December began slowly, but store traffic recovered somewhat on the 6th December week. Christmas shopping trips took footfall up 6.6% on the previous week. The result was 0.5% lower than forecast, and Ipsos now expects December foottfall to be down 0.9% YoY, rather than up 1.3%.
Scotland and Northern Ireland were the busiest locations, with traffic up 11.8% WoW. However, only Wales and South West England experienced annual growth, rising 4.1% YoY.
