Scotland had fewer empty shops last month – but fewer people visited the shops that were open.
Scottish Retail Consortium director David Lonsdale described the July figures as “a mixed bag.”
The reduction in the shop vacancy rate was welcome, but he said it was “unfortunately coupled with shopper footfall flagging once again.”
The Scottish shop vacancy rate improved to 7.5% in July from 8.4% in April. It was 10.6% in July 2015.
Footfall fell by 1.9% in July from the 3.3% fall in June, the second consecutive month of declining shopper numbers.
The trend was worse than the three-month average of minus 1.5% and 12 month average of minus 1.6%.
Mr Lonsdale said the fact that the continued footfall dip in July was worse than the three month average pointed to a continuing fragility in demand and the ongoing popularity of online retailing.
The second quarterly improvement in the vacancy rate was encouraging but he said it remained to be seen whether it reflected units being taken up on a temporary or more sustained basis.
He added: “Retailers’ prospects are ultimately determined by the state of the economy, the balance between their income and costs and their own ability to adapt and seize on the opportunities that arise.
“These are testing times for the industry which is Scotland’s largest private sector employer.
“The Holyrood Government and MSPs can assist by taking tangible action in the upcoming Scottish Budget to bolster consumer and business sentiment.”
Retailers would be looking for a clear road map for future tax and regulatory changes, he said.
They wanted a tight lid on personal and business tax rates and charges, and the scrapping of the Scotland-only rates surcharge on medium and larger sized firms.
The Scottish vacancy figure contrasted with the UK’s where vacancies increased by 0.5% to 10.1%. Footfall in the UK was down by 0.4%, less than the 1.9% in Scotland.
Diane Wehrle of analysts Springboard said July had seen a break in the clouds in some retail areas, with better weather and strong end of sale discounting helping to lessen the decline in high street footfall in Scotland.
Scotland had the second lowest vacancy rate of any area in the UK and the July rate had noticeably improved over the year.
She added: “Across the UK it seems that the EU Referendum and political and economic uncertainty of the last quarter will have deterred some retailers from taking on leases but Scotland appears to have been insulated from this.”
