Benchmark

Week 34 2025 Major Retail Centres – Location Analytics Performance Update

UK Major Retail Centres registered steady week 34 performance with a 1.6% rise in footfall. Robust trends in location analytics and retail trends underpin strong consumer engagement.

Joe Capocci

Head of Growth @ huq

September 4, 2025

2 min read

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Week 34 2025 Major Retail Centres – Location Analytics Performance Update

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Overall Footfall Performance

Data from the latest full week monitoring programme shows a strong performance across UK Major Retail Centres. The centres recorded an average daily footfall of 83,900, marking a week-on-week increase of 1.6% and a year-on-year rise of 5.3%. Such consistent footfall levels highlight enduring consumer engagement, even as niche trends in various regions evolve under the influence of location analytics.

Regional Breakdown

In England, the centres achieved an average daily footfall of 82,500, growing by 1.7% from the previous week and 5.6% compared to last year. However, visit duration in England saw a slight weekly dip of 2.6%, settling at an average of 114 minutes per visit, which nonetheless represents a 4.6% improvement on annual figures.

Scotland's performance presents an interesting contrast, with centres recording a higher average daily footfall of 102,700. Although there was a modest weekly decline of 2.2%, visitor engagement improved as reflected by an impressive week-on-week dwell time gain of 16.2%, with an average visit lasting 136 minutes. Additionally, annual performance figures show a healthy growth of 6.5%.

Welsh retail centres, on the other hand, experienced robust momentum with an average daily footfall of 67,500 and a striking weekly increase of 16.3%, despite an annual growth of only 2.1%. Further, dwell time in Wales rose by 17.4% over the week to an average of 108 minutes, even as the annual figure noted a decline of 15%.

Dwell Time Analysis

Dwell time continues to serve as a valuable indicator of consumer engagement. While England experienced a marginal drop in visitor duration over the week, the increases observed in Scotland and Wales signal a shift in consumer behaviour—spending more time in the retail environment. These emerging patterns reflect the impact of location analytics on understanding and predicting retail consumer trends.

Looking Ahead

The steady performance across these key retail centres suggests that adopting advanced location intelligence tools is paying dividends. As consumer habits continue to shift, retailers and analytics experts must leverage these insights to optimize their strategies for enhanced customer engagement and improved footfall performance across the board.

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Dwell Time Data
Footfall Data

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Frequently Asked Questions

Clear answers to the most common questions about movement intelligence, retail expansion, and location analytics.

How does movement intelligence differ from traditional market research?
Traditional market research relies on surveys, demographics and historical reports. huq's movement intelligence uses real-world behavioural data to reveal where people go, how long they stay and how locations perform, giving teams a live picture of consumer activity.
Can movement data help benchmark locations against competitors?
Yes. Compare stores, shopping centres, town centres or developments against competing locations using consistent metrics such as footfall, dwell time, catchment, visit frequency and commercial performance.
How often is movement data updated?
huq refreshes behavioural intelligence daily, allowing organisations to monitor changes in visitor activity, market trends and location performance with near real-time visibility.
Which industries benefit from movement intelligence?
Retail, real estate, financial services, government, BIDs, investors and property owners all use huq to make smarter location, investment and regeneration decisions backed by behavioural evidence.
Can huq feed our models directly?
Yes. huq data is available through APIs, data exports and structured datasets, making it easy to integrate into internal dashboards, analytics platforms and quantitative research workflows.
What markets and history are covered?
huq provides extensive UK coverage with years of historical behavioural data and daily updates. Customers can analyse long-term trends, benchmark locations and monitor market changes with confidence.