The high street is back

[19 June 2020] This week saw the biggest change to our movement habits since the lockdown was announced in March. Non-essential retailers were permitted to reopen on 12^th June, following almost three months of closures. While audience movement has been steadily increasing as lockdown measures eased, the changes brought significant audiences back to our high streets, with traffic data showing driving activity was up 16% from the previous week. Shoppers and the retail workforce revitalised the city by day, while the reopening of the hospitality industry will reintroduce night-time audiences.

Traffic flows in Northern Ireland have continued to increase, and this week saw figures grow by 100% to reach the pre-Covid baseline, bringing a renewed sense of optimism to our industry and the economy as a whole.

Audiences around grocery and pharmacy locations remain high, albeit slightly lower than the baseline. Pedestrian activity around these locations grew by 1% from last week, to 87%. Activity levels in retail and recreation locations also increased, up 13% from the previous week to reach 50% of the pre-pandemic baseline, with data until 14^th June. Major retailers including Primark didn’t reopen immediately, so we anticipate further growth for the retail industry.

Parks and beaches remain extremely popular destinations, with pedestrian activity now at 112% of the pre-Covid norm, with an increase of 6% from last week.

People return to high streets

When looking at Belfast separately, Apple Mobility Data shows uplift in all forms of audience movement, with particular increases in walking. People movement using public transport remains comparatively low and will remain below average until social distancing measures are relaxed. At the height of restrictions, audiences dropped by 88% from the baseline, so small growth to -69% is a definite improvement. Public transport provision was cut as demand fell at the start of the pandemic; however the majority of timetables are operating with a similar frequency to pre-outbreak days. For advertisers who prefer to employ Transit OOH solutions, this is very reassuring, as the typical fleet numbers are in service.

Using Locomizer insights, generated by anonymised mobile app data, enables us to trend movement over time nationally and to identify hotspots of movement down to street level. The image below shows the activity levels in Belfast on 12^th June, the first day shopping centres reopened.

Locomizer activity near shopping centres Belfast

Get on board

Additionally, air travel is picking up again. Loganair, the airline which took over some of the Flybe routes from GBBCA, announced the addition of a Glasgow to Belfast route, which will operate twice daily, 6 days per week from September. Flights to Aberdeen and Inverness, which were paused during the Covid-19 lockdown will resume from 6^th July. EasyJet flights from Belfast International Airport also resumed this week, with Jet2 and Ryanair following. Irish audiences are also keen to get back in the skies, with analysis of debit card spending from Bank of Ireland showing spend on air travel has increased by 139%, from an average baseline figure during lockdown. Irish consumers are also keen to get away to hotels, with spending up 101% from the baseline. With increasing numbers visiting urban areas to shop and work, it’s unsurprising that passenger transport spending also rose by 115%.