Granular data needed to study varied covid damage to retail

Stark differences in the effects of the pandemic on different shopping centres and high streets have highlighted the need for granular data which reveals current shopping behaviour, according to location intelligence provider Mytraffic.

While a recent study by Mytraffic and Cushman & Wakefield showed the drop in footfall on Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm was measured at -35%, and Champs Elysées in Paris was -44%, London’s Oxford Street saw a massive -71% fall.

As Edouard Epaud, head of sales UK, Mytraffic points explained, there have been different lockdowns, different variants, and remote working variations which have led to big changes in customer behaviour, while retail parks and suburbs have been much more resilient.

“The decrease in footfall, the changes in customer behaviours were very different, so it is important to get granular data and understand where people are moving, which areas are suffering the most, where people are coming from and how we can convince businesses and new types of retail activity to come and regenerate city centres,” Epaud said.