In 2023, mall footfall was 4.6% higher than in 2022. The data shows that despite the challenging economic situation, Poles visited shopping centers more frequently than the previous year, with the most traffic recorded in December. Since 2008, PwC, a leading international auditor, has been commissioned by the Polish Council of Shopping Centres to collect, verify and analyze data on footfall. The footfall index (PRCH Footfall Density Index) is prepared based on information from modern camera systems in shopping centers, which allow real-time, daily customer traffic measurement.
– The increase in shopping center footfall by 4.6% in 2023 is very good news for the industry. Despite a slowing economy and high inflation, Poles made use of shopping centers more happily than in 2022. Importantly, the results of the PRCH Footfall Density Index, the largest cyclical survey of mall footfall in Poland, are very accurate. For 16 uninterrupted years, PwC, an international auditor, has been overseeing data collection, verification, and analysis. The index covers data from facilities with a total area of over 4.5 million sqm, representing more than 33% of the shopping center market in Poland. With the use of modern camera systems, customer flows in the centers are analyzed with up to 98% accuracy – says Krzysztof Poznański, Managing Director of the Polish Council of Shopping Centres.
The average footfall of shopping malls, measured by the number of customers per 1 sqm of leasable area, reached 10.8 people per month in 2023. In 2022 this figure was lower, with 10.3 people per 1 sqm of leasable area per month. This translated into a 4.6% increase in average shopping center footfall in 2023.
In each of the months from January to November 2023, more customers used shopping centers than in the corresponding periods of 2022. Only in December was there a slight 0.5% decrease compared to the previous December. There were fewer shopping days in December 2023, with 26 days, 2 less than in December 2022, directly affecting this outcome. However, throughout the year, December remained the month in which Poles most frequently visited shopping centers.
