Shopper footfall in Scotland rose in October

Footfall in Scottish shops increased last month, new figures show, boosting hopes of good results for retailers over the traditional “golden quarter” leading up to Christmas.

The latest Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC)-Sensormatic data shows footfall rose 0.8% year on year in October, better than the UK average decrease of 1.1%.

The figures, which cover the four weeks from September 29 to October 26, show shopping centre footfall increased by 3.5% year on year in October.

Footfall in Glasgow also increased by 1.6%, higher than in Edinburgh, where it rose by 1%.

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “Visits to Scottish stores grew for a third successive month in October, with Scotland recording the fourth best performance of all 13 UK nations and regions surveyed.

“Hopefully, this heralds a positive start to the traditional golden quarter of trading leading up to Christmas.

“That said, this was against an easy comparable 12 months prior when Scotland was battered by repeated and prolonged storms, with severe weather alerts in large swathes of the country advising people not to travel.

“The improvement in footfall was seen across all retail destinations. Foot traffic to shopping centres returned to growth after three months of decline.

“Glasgow was the second best-performing city centre of the 10 UK cities surveyed, and outperformed Edinburgh for the first time in two years.

“Retailers will need a positive golden quarter to tide them over the traditionally leaner months early in the new year and to try and begin to make up for the expensive additional outlays coming down the track as a result of the Chancellor’s Budget and previous UK Government policies.

“Hopefully falling prices at shop tills will buoy consumer confidence and encourage consumer spending, not just browsing.

“With attention now firmly turning towards the Scottish Budget next month, ministers and MSPs must not add to the financial pressures on households and should avoid compounding the mountainous extra statutory cost burdens facing retailers.”

Andy Sumpter, retail consultant EMEA for Sensormatic Solutions, said: “Having hovered at the same level in August and September, October’s footfall saw a marginal increase on the previous month’s figures.

“Whilst shopper traffic still remained positive compared to 2023 last month, the caveat is that we still expect to see a bumpy recovery as a myriad of market conditions – from the cost of living to shaky consumer confidence around the Budget – continue to make footfall performance volatile.

“Building on October’s momentum, retailers now need to look ahead and focus their efforts on the rest of the golden quarter, delivering compelling reasons to visit in order to drive ambient footfall and sales during the key Christmas trading period.”