Squeeze on wages hurts footfall in August as consumers stay away from shops

A CONTINUED squeeze on wages hit footfall figures in August as consumers stayed away from shops during the month.

Footfall in August fell by 1.6 per cent on the previous year, a sharper decline than seen in July, when a fall of 0.8 per cent was recorded, according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

The BRC – Springboard Footfall and Vacancies Monitor showed that three months of growth came to an end in August for high streets, which recorded a decline of two per cent.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “British high streets experienced a quiet August this year as the continued squeeze on wages kept consumers away from the shops.

“With fewer shoppers visiting the high street and a difficult overall trading environment the pressure is increasing on retailers as rising public policy costs continue to bite.”

The BRC reiterated its call on the Government to introduce a freeze in business rates to reduce the pressure on bricks and mortar retailers.

Retail parks helped salvage footfall figures for August with all but three regions North and Yorkshire, East Midlands and London performing strongly.

Shopping centres continued to see year on year falls, but at a decelerated rate. In August, shopping centre footfall fell by 2.4 per cent, less of a decline than July’s 3.4 per cent fall. August represented the 17th month of consecutive decline.

Diane Wehrle, Springboard marketing and insights director, said the drop in August footfall was the worst since April. She added: “Given the sweltering temperatures during what has been the hottest summer on record, it is not surprising that visits to shopping destinations declined further as consumers made the most of the weather elsewhere. This mainly occurred in the latter half of the month when footfall declined by minus two per cent compared with just 0.9 per cent in the first two weeks of August.