The rise of online shopping contributed to disappointing footfall figures for Scotland’s high streets and out-of-town shopping centres in December, according to the body which represents the retail sector.
New figures show that footfall in December was 1.9% lower than the same month the previous year.
The statistics were published as part of the Scottish Retail Consortium and Springboard monitor, which tracks shopper numbers on the high street and out of town shopping centres.
Footfall had fallen 0.3% in November, but trends got worse the following month as shoppers held off for deeper discounts and were then put off by pre-Christmas storms. Figures for the whole of the UK showed a 2.4% decline in December.
“Scottish shopper numbers dropped by a smaller amount than the UK average but it’s obviously a concern to see that the fall was so steep after November showed some encouraging hints of recovery,” said SRC director David Lonsdale.
“Last week’s UK sales showed a last-minute rush in the final few days before Christmas and we’d expect to see similar in the Scottish figures released this coming Wednesday, but that hasn’t translated into overall footfall growth.
“Online was a big story this Christmas and these figures certainly reflect the rapid pace of change of how people are doing their shopping.
“Enhanced websites and the soaring popularity of services like click and collect meant that many of us could plan ahead for our Christmas shopping with greater choice and convenience.”
Diane Wehrle, retail insights director at retail analyst Springboard, said much of Scotland’s retail resilience came from increasingly popular retail parks.
“The combination of the emphasis by retailers to drive online sales, and the discounting introduced by retailers early on in the month, meant that shoppers delayed visits to retail destinations until as late as possible which adversely affected footfall early in on the month,” she said.
“Then, over the last weekend before Christmas, severe weather suppressed what retailers hoped would be the last burst of peak trading activity, so that footfall did not have an opportunity to recover before the holiday period.”
The statistics came as the owner of online shopping and catalogue brands Littlewoods and Very reported record Christmas sales thanks to the explosion in orders from mobiles and tablets.
Liverpool-based Shop Direct said sales in the six weeks to December 27 were up 5% on last year, with website traffic from mobiles beating desktops for the first time at 52%.
The growth was driven by a 27% surge in sales at its newer Very and isme sites, helping offset a combined 5% fall from heritage brands Littlewoods and KandCo. Its busiest day of the year came on December 2, dubbed Cyber Monday for its popularity with online shoppers.
Meanwhile, outdoors chain Mountain Warehouse revealed how its online sale more than doubled over the six-week period to January 5.
Web sales rose 127%, with like-for-like retail revenues up by more than 10%. Click and collect proved particularly successful.
The chain – which wants to open a string of new retail stores this year, and has its sights set on several Scottish locations – reckons it sold a waterproof jacket every five seconds since Boxing Day.