Retail footfall in UK for the month of August was 1.1% down on a year ago, down on the 0.6% fall in July and below the three-month average of a 0.8% decline, according to British Retail Consortium (BRC).

During the period, out-of-town reported the only rise, 2.9% higher than a year ago, while footfall in shopping centers was down 1.1% on the previous year

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Footfall on the high street was 2.8% down on the previous year for August, the lowest decline since Feb-14.

Geographically, all regions and countries with the exception of South East (1.2%) East Midlands (0.5%), Northern Ireland (4.2%) and Scotland (1.8%) reported declining footfall.

British Retail Consortium director general Helen Dickinson said: "Footfall might be down slightly this month but retail sales performed well in August. Taking account of the impact of online shopping we see that customers are spending more per trip than in recent months.

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"It seems that customers are hitting the High Streets with purpose – knowing what they want to buy ahead of time, supported by online research – and doing more shopping in a single trip."

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Springboard Retail Insights director Diane Wehrle said: "The drop in footfall in August in high streets and shopping centres – which has occurred in all but one month this year – underlines further that it is these locations that are vulnerable to the adverse effect of change that is occurring across our retail landscape as a consequence of online shopping.

"The good news is that while footfall dropped, sales rose in August, primarily driven by clothing and footwear – traditionally town centre focused purchases – indicating that at least in part the drop in footfall will have been offset by increased dwell time and transaction values," Wehrle added.