Summer surge in Scottish footfall stalled in August
Covering the four weeks 02 – 29 August 2026
According to SRC-Sensormatic data:
- Scottish footfall decreased by 0.1% in August (YoY), down from 2.7% in July.
- Shopping Centre footfall increased by 0.4% in August (YoY), down from 3.6% in July.
- Retail Park footfall increased by 2.5% in August (YoY), down from 3.1% in July.
- In August, footfall in Edinburgh increased by 0.6% (YoY), while footfall in Glasgow increased by 0.3%.
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “The summer surge in visits to Scotland’s shops stalled in August. That will come as a bit of a disappointment to retailers after three consecutive months of growth in shopper footfall. Many retail destinations eked out a slight uptick in foot-traffic to stores. Shops on retail parks performed best with a solid 2.5 per cent growth in visits year on year buoyed by ease of parking, the mix of leisure and eateries on offer, and range of stores. In contrast, outlet stores and high streets out-with the major cities underperformed.
“As attention begins to turn to the all-important golden quarter of trading, the lead up to Christmas, retailers will be looking at these figures a little nervously. Hopefully, the flatlining footfall figures are merely temporary. The outlook for consumer spending is both the biggest opportunity and biggest unknown facing the economy. Buoyant disposable incomes and confident consumers are critical to the health of Scotland’s retailers. However, shoppers’ propensity to spend is being challenged by rising household energy bills and near double digit increases in council tax and water bills. All of this comes as retailers themselves continue to shoulder a raft of extra tax and regulatory costs.”
Andy Sumpter, head of consulting & analytics – EMEA for Sensormatic, said: “August saw Scottish retail footfall remain broadly stable, with total visits down just -0.1% year-on-year. While this represents a step back from the growth seen over the previous three months, Scotland continues to outperform the wider UK and remains one of the more resilient retail markets across the home nations.
“Strong performances from both retail parks (+2.5%) and retailers within shopping centres (+0.4%) were particularly encouraging, demonstrating that consumers remain willing to visit retail destinations despite ongoing pressure on household budgets. Edinburgh also remained in growth at +0.6%, helping support Scotland’s overall performance.
“More broadly, five of the first eight months of 2026 have outperformed the same period last year, suggesting a degree of resilience despite the wider challenges facing retail. While consumer behaviour remains cautious, Scotland continues to hold firmer ground than many other parts of the UK as retailers look to convert footfall into meaningful spend during the crucial months ahead.”
MONTHLY TOTAL SCOTTISH RETAIL FOOTFALL (% CHANGE YoY)
UK FOOTFALL BY LOCATION (% CHANGE YoY)
TOTAL FOOTFALL BY NATION AND REGION