Attendance at the shopping center in Ufa decreased by 20% after the introduction of QR codes.

The introduction in Bashkiria of the requirement to present QR codes when visiting shopping malls has led to a 20% decrease in traffic. In the first two weeks of restrictions, the drop reached 50%. This was reported to RBC Ufa by representatives of several shopping centers.

In the first days after the introduction of QR codes, every second visitor had to refuse to visit, notes Andrey Nikolaev, the manager of the Prostor Center for Public HEALTH.

“A lot of people just didn't know about the restrictions. Someone even had QR codes, but did not have them with them. Then, when people realized that the entrance to shopping centers was through a code, the visitor began to go only with a QR code,” he commented.

After two weeks, traffic recovered slightly, but traffic is still 20% below normal. The growth in the number of vaccinated people does not yet have a significant impact on it.

“We expected a direct dependence [attendance] on the number of vaccinated, but so far the vaccination rate has not been converted into shopping center attendance rates. In general, compared to November 2020, the decrease was 20-30%,” said Olga Golubeva, DIRECTOR of the SemYa TV and radio company.