Consumer optimism is on a downward trend

As COVID-19 cases hit record levels across the U.S. this week, the question of an economic recovery becomes more and more in doubt. Nowhere has this impact been more keenly felt than in the brick-and-mortar retail space. Zenreach— the leaders in walk-through marketing — have been monitoring foot traffic at the nation's retail spaces.

CEO John Kelly has released a statement on the state of retail foot traffic in the U.S.:
"Following a precipitous drop in customer foot traffic beginning in March of this year, we observed a slow but steady increase from mid-April through June as we climbed back up to 50% of last year's numbers.

However, since July, we have seen a flattening of retail traffic, and we have remained around the 50% mark for the past four months or so. "There’s no reason to expect an increase in foot traffic anytime soon—the U.S. recently set a new record with 140,000 daily COVID-19 cases, the clearest indication yet that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over and is something that we will all have to live with for at least another several months.

"Understandably, a large portion of the population still has serious concerns about brick-and-mortar businesses’ health and safety practices at this time. Anything that leads consumers to feel safer and have more confidence to go out in public to patronize businesses without having to worry about becoming infected—particularly something like a vaccine that could impact millions of people—is sure to have a positive effect on retail foot traffic."