One of the UK’s biggest retailers has said that making face masks compulsory in shops in England could deter shoppers from visiting stores.
Peter Cowgill, executive chair of the FTSE 100 company JD Sports, said the government’s rule that face coverings should be worn in shops from 24 July would probably prove a “turn off” for its teenagers and twentysomethings buyers.
Cowgill said the “inconsistencies and indecisiveness” of the government’s stance on face masks had also hit consumer confidence. “I think masks will be a further deterrent for indoor shopping centres. Maybe it will be a positive for older customers, but I think it will be a deterrent for younger ones.”
The businessman said the timing of the move was also a surprise, coming into effect at the “back end rather than the front end” of the pandemic.
“I think it’s a very difficult situation and I’m surprised by the inconsistency of the message,” Cowgill told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday. “I’m not sure, for instance, that it applies to bars or restaurants and there’s obviously been a long period where supermarkets have had to deal with throngs of people. It’s the inconsistencies and indecisiveness that causes the lack of confidence.”
Despite the easing of the lockdown the number of shoppers visiting high streets and shopping centres is still dramatically lower than was the case before the crisis.
Retail footfall collapsed by 57% in June 2020 compared with June 2019, according to research by the data company Springboard.
Sofie Willmott, a retail analyst at GlobalData, said many consumers would see the requirement to wear face masks as another reason not to go shopping, heaping more pressure on struggling retail chains.
Willmott said: “Shopping for non-essential items is already less appealing than pre-covid due to the queuing involved, the inability to try items on, and the risk of catching the virus. There will be some consumers who will feel more at ease shopping once all those around them are wearing a face mask … but ultimately footfall recovery is going to be slow.
“As retailers, such John Lewis & Partners, Debenhams and Boots, announce store closures, increasingly empty shopping locations will be less attractive and more consumers are likely to turn to online purchasing for convenience and choice.”
There are also concerns that it would fall to store staff to police the public’s use of masks at a time when there was more abuse than normal because of social distancing restrictions leading to frustration, according to Usdaw, the shop workers’ union.
Anyone who disregards the rule for shops could be fined up to £100 by the police, reduced to £50 if they pay within 14 days.
The environment secretary, George Eustice, said retailers would have a role to play in getting shoppers to wear masks, in the same way they were managing social distancing in their stores. “Staff have been quite assertive in telling customers to wait outside or to keep their distance within store. I’m sure that they will be telling people they should wear a mask. If it comes to that final sanction of issuing a penalty that is something only the police can do.”
James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, was pleased the legal responsibility for enforcing the face mask policy rested with the police rather than with shop workers, but added: “In reality it will be retailers and their colleagues trying to communicate and explain this to people.”
JD Sports said it intended to hand out masks to shoppers who did not have one – a tactic that has been used by some retailers since face coverings became mandatory in Scotland on Friday. The company said it did not expect colleagues to get involved with policing the situation.
Shoppers in Scotland appear to have been willing to comply with the new law. The Scottish Retail Consortium has reported no serious incidents. The Scottish police said that over the last weekend they did not issue a single fine for non compliance.
