In this month’s Liverpool BID Company’s Business Insights Update we’ve provided an extensive analysis of the increase in spend in Liverpool City Centre in Q3 of 2021: what has driven that increase; where it has been driven from; who’s driving the spend; where the spend has occurred; and the impacts of this spend, focusing explicity on the positive effects across the various sectors. As usual, you can read the analysis on this page, or click the button below to get the PDF.

Liverpool city centre footfall analysis

Did people visited Liverpool city centre in October 2021?

After a slight drop off in footfall in September 2021 relative to August 2021, October 2021 saw a slight upturn again, with MoM footfall up 0.6%. This represented a YoY of -10.7% when compared with the equivalent period in 2019, and signals a return to pattern of YoY traffic we’ve been seeing, hovering at around -10%.

The upturn in traffic this month was, in part, driven by visitors to the city during the half-term week (25-31 November), which happened to coincide exactly with when the half term was in 2019. The traffic during this week was only -1.5% compared to that same week in 2019. In number terms, this was the highest footfall week since the start of the pandemic. This high level of visitation suggests that the staycation trend we saw during August has continued to school-breaks following the summer.

It’s also worth noting that Liverpool is continually performing better than equivalent locations and the UK as a whole. Since June 2021, the return of people to Liverpool has been significantly higher when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Find out more

Liverpool city centre spend analysis

Has spend increased across the quarters?

The below graph looks at offline Visa and Non-Visa spend in L1, L2 and L3 across all the quarters over the last two years.

As expected, Q2 2020 and Q1 2021 had low combined spends, as they were the quarters where there was a lockdown and people were unable to travel to spend.

Q3 2020, Q4 2020 and Q2 2021 all saw relative recoveries, with spending returning to the Q1 2020 level (albeit that Q1 in most years has the lowest spend).

Q3 2021, however, has seen a significant increase in spend, driven almost wholly by an increase in Visa spend.

Relative to Q2 2021, Q4 2020 and Q3 2020, 72% of the increase in total spend in Q3 2021 was driven by Visa spend. This represented increases of £65m, £80m and £71m respectively. Relative to Q1 2020, spend in Q3 2021 increased by a total of £112m, with £101m of that coming by Visa spend.

What is driving the increase in spend?

We saw in last couple of business insight reports that the proportion and amount of visitors coming from farther afield (50km+ away) significantly increased over the months of Q3 2021. The below graph shows the extent to which these visitors (as tourists, or for staycations) contributed to the economy in L1, L2 and L3.

The graph shows the money spent on Visa cards for those travelling from the various catchments. We’ve included Q3 2020 and Q1 2020 as benchmarks against which to see the impact of the spending in Q3 2021.

As we know from the previous page, overall spending in Q3 2021 has increased. Though spending has increased from those travelling within the Liverpool area (0-10km), the significant increase is from those travelling from farther afield.

Spend from this group increased in Q3 2021 by £48m, £51m and £52m relative to Q2 2021, Q3 2020 and Q1 2020 respectively.

Where is the spend coming from?

The below graph shows how much each region contributed to total offline Visa spend in L1, L2 and L3 across the quarters for the last two years. It does not include spend from within 50km of the city in order to focus on the spend captured by the 50km+ catchment we saw in the section above.

The first thing to reiterate is the size of the contribution from those coming from farther afield in Q3 2021 relative to the other quarters, including Q1 2020, which was predominantly pre-pandemic.

The other key feature of this graph is in recognising the regions contributing most heavily to the Liverpool economy in Q3 2021: the Midlands contributed 18%; London 11%; Yorkshire 11%; and the farther areas still in the North West, 12%.

Who are the high calorie spenders?

The below graph shows the ‘calorie’ level of offline Visa spenders in L1, L2 & L3 across the regions: that is, the amount of spend relative to the number of visitors.

As such, from this graph we can see the relative contribution of each visitor from the respective regions. Key takeaways are:

Though the Midlands and Yorkshire contribute greatly to the total spend, they are not ‘high calorie’ spenders
East England (in particular), South East, South West and The West country, have consistently ‘high calorie’ spenders
London both contributes a large amount to the total and does so with ‘high calorie’ spenders
East England, Northern Ireland and South East had particularly ‘high calorie’ spenders in Q4 2020, suggesting they may be profitable markets to target for Christmas in coming years

At what time and in what area is the spend happening?

Below is a graph showing Visa spend by time of day in L1 across multiple quarters (using Q3 2020 and Q1 2020 as benchmarks) alongside a map showing the boundaries of L1.

Most prominent areas in L1 are: High Street (Church St, Lord St, Whitechapel), Bold Street, St Johns, Clayton Square, Ropewalks and Duke Street.

By time of day, we’ve seen the following spending trends:

Morning (6am – 11.29am): fairly consistent across all quarters, with slight increase over time
Lunch (11.30am – 2.29pm): Q3 2021 significantly up (40%) on pre-pandemic levels
Afternoon (2.30pm – 5.59pm): Q3 2021 up 20-35% on other quarters
Evening (6pm – 11.59pm): Q3 2021 showing incremental increases on other quarters, up 51% on pre-pandemic levels
Night (midnight – 5.59am): Q3 2021 up avg. 150% on Q2 2021 / Q3 2020, and up 37% on pre-pandemic levels

Below is a graph showing Visa spend by time of day in L2 across multiple quarters (using Q3 2020 and Q1 2020 as benchmarks) alongside a map showing the boundaries of L2.

Most prominent areas in L2 are: Cavern Quarter, Metquarter, Castle Street, Dale Street and Pride Quarter.

By time of day, we’ve seen the following spending trends:

Morning (6am – 11.29am): fairly consistent across all quarters, with slight increase over time
Lunch (11.30am – 2.29pm): fairly consistent across all quarters
Afternoon (2.30pm – 5.59pm): Q3 2021 showing incremental increases on other quarters, up 91% on pre-pandemic levels
Evening (6pm – 11.59pm): Q3 2021 up avg. 30% on Q2 2021 / Q3 2020, and up 152% on pre-pandemic levels
Night (midnight – 5.59am): Q3 2021 up 100-150% on other quarters

Below is a graph showing Visa spend by time of day in L3 across multiple quarters (using Q3 2020 and Q1 2020 as benchmarks) alongside a map showing the boundaries of L3.Most prominent areas in L3 are: Waterfront (including Albert Dock, Pier Head etc.), St George’s Quarter and part of Knowledge Quarter.

By time of day, we’ve seen the following spending trends:

Morning (6am – 11.29am): fairly consistent across all quarters
Lunch (11.30am – 2.29pm): Q3 2021 up avg. 20% on Q2 2021 and Q1 2020, but little increase on Q3 2020
Afternoon (2.30pm – 5.59pm): Q3 2021 showing increases on other quarters, up 31% on pre-pandemic levels
Evening (6pm – 11.59pm): Q3 2021 up 25-40% on other quarters
Night (midnight – 5.59am): fairly consistent across all quarters

What sectors are impacted by the increase in spend?

Below is a graph showing Visa spend in L1, L2 & L3 by sector across the quarters in the last two years.

Given the trend we’ve seen over the areas of the city in the last few pages, the up-turn in spend in particular sectors in Q3 2021 provide context for these trends.

The upturn in evening and night economy to all the areas (L1, L2 and L3) is reflected in the huge increase in Restaurant Spend, relative to all quarters. The £112m spent in this sector dwarfs that of both the spend in Q2 2021 (at £70m) and the pre-pandemic Q1 2020 (£64m)
Leisure and Entertainment also saw an upturn in spend, up 13% on pre-pandemic levels
Both Retail & High Street and Clothing saw large increases from Q2 2021, and usurped Q1 2020 spend

What to be aware of in November & December 2021…

Cruises coming to Liverpool!

There are still three cruises coming into the city before the end of the year, so you may expect to see an upturn in traffic as a consequence of this on the following dates:

➔Thursday 2 December: Borealis

➔Tuesday 7 December: Borealis

➔Tuesday 21 December: Borealis

You can see the full Cruise Schedule on the Cruise Liverpool website here.

Events at the ACC

Watch out for the following events at the ACC in the coming weeks:

➔Radio City Live: Friday 19 November

➔Deacon Blue: Saturday 20 November

➔A Question of Sport Live: Monday 29 November

➔Michael Ball & Alfie Boe: Tuesday 30 November

➔Magic of Motown: Saturday 4 December

➔SMA: Monday 6 December