Scottish footfall increased by 12% year-on-year in March, although this was 2.5 percentage points weaker than February.
The latest Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) and Sensormatic IQ data also revealed that this is better than the UK average of 6.8%.
Shopping centre footfall increased by 37.2% in March in Scotland, 4.6 percentage points weaker than February.
Footfall in Edinburgh increased by 24.4% year-on-year during March, while Glasgow increased by 11.9%.
Compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, total Scottish footfall was 10.2% lower, Scottish shopping centres down by 16.2%, while footfall in Edinburgh fell by 2.4% and Glasgow by 9.5%.
SRC director David Lonsdale said: “Scotland was the best performing nation or region within the UK in March with shopper footfall up by an eighth on last year.
“However, retailers will need to wait a little before breaking out the bunting as this uptick was swollen by the weak comparable given lingering Omicron restrictions on shops and eateries remained in place for much of March 2022.
“Enhanced levels of consumer confidence and spending and will be central to Scotland’s economic recovery,“ he continued, adding: “Retailers are playing their part in trying to tempt shoppers however Scottish ministers and local authorities need to continue to support the industry and retail destinations over the coming months, and consider what more can be done to entice and stimulate shoppers to return.”
Andy Sumpter, retail consultant for Sensormatic Solutions, commented: “Shopper traffic counts in March saw an improvement on last year, which is no small feat given the backdrop of ongoing cost-of-living pressures, stubbornly high inflation and strike disruptions continuing to simmer away.
“Retail parks remained the outlier, with a slightly more suppressed recovery due to their tenant mix of predominantly furniture, kitchen and bed retail outlets, as shoppers expressed spending caution and held off purchasing big ticket items.
“While the retail footfall recovery slowed marginally last month compared to pre-pandemic levels, we continue to see shopper numbers continue to normalise and the ebbs and flows in performance are becoming less pronounced.
“We also see, perhaps as a consequence of hybrid working becoming the norm, the significance of the weekend rising, leaving Friday and Monday trailing behind.”
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