LONDON (Bywire News) - On Monday, Springboard, a market research company, reported that the number of British people heading out to various shopping locations rose by 6.7% within the last week. This furthers the evidence that British people are experiencing lockdown fatigue.
The increase that was recorded in the week beginning February 6, was the third continuous increase in a row. Although, shopper footfall still remained 63.9% lower than what it was this time last year prior to the coronavirus outbreak.
The UK went into its third national lockdown on January 4, under Boris Johnson's order, in an attempt to halt the vast increase in coronavirus infections and deaths.
In England, under the current lockdown restrictions, all non essential shops and hospitality outlets are closed, schools only remain open to a niche group of students, and people have been instructed to work from home wherever possible. While, the rest of the UK, have imposed similar restrictions with minimal variations.
According to Springboard, the shopper footfall increased by 9% in UK high streets, 4.5% across retail parks and 4.3% in shopping centres. Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said, "With shopper activity increasing for the past three weeks despite all but essential stores remaining closed, the results are delivering ever more compelling evidence of escalating lockdown fatigue."
She went on to add that the success of Britain's vaccine programme could be a factor in the new rise of consumer confidence.
(Written by Klaudia Fior)