Click and Collect Helps Retail Parks Avoid Visitor Slowdown

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - 09:13 by Paul Tissington

While the number of people visiting bricks and mortar retail stores in the UK was down by 0.5 per cent last month, out-of-town retail parks and centres dedicated to shopping were able to buck this trend thanks to the power of e-commerce.

More Brits who make purchases via safe shopping online are now eager to take advantage of click and collect as their preferred delivery option for the things that they buy, hence the reason that retail parks saw a 1.4 per cent uptick in footfall over the course of January 2020 compared with the same period last year.

Seen in isolation, the high street underwent a less favourable 31 days of trading, with a 1.8 per cent drop in visitor numbers reported in the latest study from Springboard.

The fact that retail parks are able to combine the immediacy of bricks and mortar shopping with the convenience of online ordering means that they are in a much better position to thrive at a time when e-commerce is still ascendant.

Experts have identified a desire amongst consumers for a multifaceted approach to retail that blends the best of online and in store experiences, with these statistics supporting the supposition that retail parks and, to a lesser extent, shopping centres are able to fulfil this expectation.

Even more reassuring is the revelation that this is the first time that visitor numbers to bricks and mortar stores have risen in the past three years. Study spokesperson Diane Wehrle pointed out that out-of-town retail parks were performing even more impressively in the post-8pm time slot, where footfall was up by three per cent last month, indicating that people are ordering items online during the working day and then collecting them when they return home several hours later.