Continued public unrest in the first half of last week alarmed shoppers and created a 4.8% decline in High Street footfall. It also led to a corresponding 2.5% increase in home deliveries and parcel shipments, says the home delivery expert Parcelhero.

Continued rioting and public unrest across the UK at the beginning of last week led to a significant 4.8% decline in the number of shoppers visiting High Streets, as some town centre stores were vandalised and looted. In parts of the north of England, footfall was down by as much as 12.9%.

On Wednesday 7 August, the number of people on the UK’s High Streets dropped by as much as 7.5% as consumers became concerned about a threatened new wave of far-right demonstrations that, fortunately, did not materialise.

These results from the real estate firm MRI Software reflect findings from the delivery expert Parcelhero that parcel shipments and home deliveries jumped by at least 2.5% in the first half of last week. People chose to shop from the safety of their own homes and have items picked up rather than visit city centres.

Parcelhero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: ‘As was the case during the Covid pandemic, when shoppers grow wary of crowds or potential trouble, they often opt to shop online instead. Based on Parcelhero’s own figures and anecdotal information from our partner courier organisations and retailers, there was a marked uptick in online orders in the first half of last week when, usually, town centre stores would have been teeming with families on holiday.

‘This week, it seems that the impact of swift sentencing and rapid response policing has calmed the situation and consumer patterns seem to have returned to normal.

‘As well as supermarkets and shoe shops, what was particularly concerning was the number of attacks on corner shops and community pharmacies. More than half of the UK’s pharmacy teams are reported to have felt unsafe because of the unrest. That’s entirely unacceptable.

‘The number of summer shoppers should have soared last week as schools were out and family day trips should have been in full swing. Now, however, it’s likely that last week’s High Street sales figures will be notably down on the same period last year, as well as down week-on-week.

‘Once again, though nobody wins under such circumstances, those stores with a combined High Street and online offering will have suffered the least overall drop in sales. The ability to offer a combined omnichannel approach to retail does give sellers some protection against events outside of their control.

‘Parcelhero’s influential report “2030: Death of the High Street” has been discussed in Parliament. It reveals that retailers must develop an omnichannel approach, embracing both online and physical store sales.