Footfall rises ahead of festive period despite adverse weather conditions

New figures by MRI Software have shown an increase in footfall over the past week, despite adverse weather conditions temporarily discouraging travel.

According to the data platform, for the period December 7 to 13, footfall across all UK retail destinations rose 3.1 percent compared to the week prior, largely driven by a 5 percent uptick in high streets.

This was followed by a 2.2 percent increase in shopping centre footfall, while retail park activity remained flat.

The sharpest declines in footfall were seen on Sunday (-9.7 percent) and Tuesday (-6.2 percent), the latter likely impacted by adverse weather conditions, MRI said.

This contrasted a 10.7 percent uptick on Monday and an 11.5 percent increase on Thursday.

Compared to the same week last year, footfall remained -0.5 percent lower. Shopping centres saw the largest drop at -3.1 percent, followed by retail parks at -1.6 percent. High streets, however, recorded a comparative uptick of 1.3 percent.