Retailers experienced a drop of 9.2 per cent in footfall during the fortnight surrounding Easter with analysts blaming the poor weather and continuing financial demands.The fall was much worse than analyst had predicted, with previous predictions putting the fall at 5.2 per cent. Footfall was also down on 2007 according to figures from the Retail Traffic Index from SPSL.
"All the cards in the pack have fallen against retail this Easter, making it the quietest one this decade," said SPSL retail psychologist Dr Tim Denison.
"The combination of poor weather, a very early Easter and shortened school breaks over the traditional holiday fortnight; on top of the growing underlying financial pressures on the consumer; put paid to any hope of buoyant Easter trading this year.
"Taking the two weeks as a whole, it was even quieter than we had predicted."
Advertisement
Related Stories
- Analyst: High Street showing signs of recovery Apr 14th 2009 at 10:39AM
- Footfall slips for non-food in January Feb 5th 2009 at 12:30PM
- May enjoys non-food shopping boost Jun 5th 2008 at 12:07PM
- April footfall down year on year May 8th 2008 at 11:54AM
- Sales fall for first time in two years Apr 16th 2008 at 10:55AM
- Footfall down in March Apr 9th 2008 at 12:30PM
- Poor Easter predicted Mar 19th 2008 at 11:08AM
