Fall in shopper numbers in December rounded off ‘dreich’ year for retailers

Footfall in Scotland’s shops in December fell compared to the same month the year before, rounding off what analysts said was a “dreich” 2024 for retailers.

According to figures released by the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC), overall footfall in Scotland’s shops was down 2.0% in 2024 compared with the year before.

This includes a 2.5% year-on-year fall in the three months to December – the so-called “golden quarter” for retailers.

Footfall in December followed the same pattern, falling 1.5% compared with December 2023 – though the SRC pointed out this was an improvement on the 6.8% year-on-year fall seen in November.

The “lacklustre” December performance included a 2.3% fall in the numbers visiting shopping centres – though again this was better than the 7.3% fall in November.

On the other hand there was a 4.2% increase in the numbers visiting retail parks – which was also up from the 3.9% year-on-year fall the month before.

December saw a mixed picture in Scotland’s biggest cities, with Edinburgh seeing a 1.1% year-on-year fall and Glasgow seeing a 0.2% rise – making it one of only two major UK cities to see an increase last month.

Analysts said the latest SRC-Sensormatic footfall monitor figures rounded off what had been a “drab” year for retailers, who had been hoping for a boost to help them deal with rising costs.

SRC director David Lonsdale said: “Visits to Scotland’s stores 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 seeing an improvement at the end.

“However, across the month as a whole footfall was feeble with only Glasgow city centre and retail parks faring well.

“There’s little denying these are dreich figures for retailers with bricks and mortar premises, many of whom were hoping for a final flourish to 2024 and a good Christmas to help weather increasing costs and tide them over the leaner months early in the new year.”

Despite the 1.5% fall, Scotland was the best performing of the four home nations in December.

England saw a 2.1% decline in shopper numbers, Wales had 2.6% fewer shoppers, while footfall in Northern Ireland was down 5.8%.

Andy Sumpter from Sensormatic Solutions said 2024 was the “second consecutive year” of falling shopper numbers in Scotland.

“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,” he said.

“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’s 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.”

Mr Lonsdale added it is too soon to tell what effect declining footfall is having on sales.

“We await the publication of our sales monitor later this month to see what it meant for actual retail sales as there is rarely an exact correlation with shopper footfall,” he said.

“Afterall, a third of non-food retail sales are purchased online and retailers are 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.”