Despite a big push by retailers and operators to drive shoppers to mall-based stores for the back-to-school selling season, foot traffic showed steep declines in August and September, according to the latest data from Placer.ai.
September “was another tough month for malls, as consumer confidence tumbled, and many Americans continued channeling their limited discretionary budgets toward services instead of retail goods,” the location analytics firm said in its report.
The report’s authors said the year-over-year visit gap to indoor malls and open-air shopping centers widened, “following the negative foot traffic trends in the wider retail sector,” and then noted that “outlet malls, which continued to lag behind the other formats in terms of YoY visits, saw their visit gap remain steady.”
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Store visits to indoor malls declined 4.8 percent in August and then fell 8.7 percent in September.
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However, weekly data on malls did reveal an uptick. Researchers at Placer.ai said by the end of the month, “the challenges appeared to be easing.” During the last week of September, from Sept. 18 to 24, the week-over-week foot traffic showed an increase at indoor malls and open-air shopping centers. This was the first increase since the week of July 31.
Still, visits are behind the levels seen in 2022 year-over-year. “But the [week-over-week] increase may indicate that the current difficulties facing the wider retail sectors are moderating, just in time for a critical holiday season,” Placer.ai noted.