Scottish footfall increased by 7.7% in April year-on-year, which was better than the UK average increase of 5.3%.
The latest Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) and Sensormatic IQ data also showed that Scottish shopping centre footfall rose by 5.5% during April, although this was 2.9 percentage points worse than March.
Footfall in Edinburgh increased by 29.4% year-on-year last month, while in Glasgow it was up by 3.3%.
Compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, total Scottish footfall was 15.8% lower, while the levels in shopping centres was down 14.7%, footfall in Edinburgh fell by 14.7 % and in Glasgow by 13.8%.
SRC director David Lonsdale said the latest figures were positive retail destinations; albeit with a slight health warning given the uplift is compared to last April when Omicron restrictions in shops and eateries had only just ended and face masks were still in force.
“While there is a little sunlight for retailers in these figures, there is a risk of a false dawn.
“The pace of growth last month slackened and was at its weakest level since last October, while Scottish foot-traffic was almost 16% down on pre-pandemic levels, underlining the protracted nature of the challenges facing much of retail.
“It’s a year since the unveiling of the conclusions of the Scottish Government’s city centres recovery taskforce and its town centres action plan and what is beyond doubt is that there is still much work to do.
“One option to spur greater levels of footfall and entice shoppers back worth considering is whether it might be possible to bring forward from October the pilot scheme to remove peak-time rail fares,” he added.
Andy Sumpter, retail consultant for Sensormatic Solutions, commented: “As we became used to living with covid, consumers have now lived with higher prices for over a year, meaning shopping habits are beginning to stabilise.
“Stability brings predictability and predictability brings retailers the confidence to plan.
"The outlook does remain tough however, and double-digit growth was always going to fizzle out as the year went on and footfall trends began to normalise.”
Scottish Conservative finance spokeswoman Liz Smith claimed retailers north of the border are at a “disadvantage” compared to those elsewhere in the UK.
“In England and Wales, the UK Government is giving 75% rebates on business rates, but although the SNP government has been given the funds to follow suit, they have chosen not to pass those on to firms in Scotland.
“Every area of public policy and spending depends on improving our growth and productivity, and Scotland is being hamstrung by the SNP’s anti-business stance.
“If Humza Yousaf is reviewing his programme for government, he would do well to start with this, and give Scottish firms the support being offered elsewhere.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson responded: “We welcome the rise in footfall, but recognise the enormous pressures facing businesses, and the Scottish Government has been engaging, directly and through key business organisations, to best understand their needs.
“The Scottish Government recently launched a New Deal for Scottish Business that will provide an opportunity to discuss how government can better support businesses using the limited policy levers available.
“We have also set out a strong non-domestic rates regime, delivering a freeze to the poundage and a reliefs package including the Small Business Bonus Scheme which provides over £95m of relief to the retail sector, taking almost 29,000 shops out of rates altogether.
“Our retail strategy sets out how we will work with business and trade unions to deliver a strong retail sector, and contains specific actions to strengthen retail’s contribution to the economic and social success of our communities.
“This is in addition to the action we are taking to support our town and city centres, and help retailers and communities recover from the pandemic – not least through our City Centre Recovery Fund, the Town Centre Action Plan and Business Improvement Districts.”
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