Britain’s retailers attracted more shoppers through their doors over the Christmas period, with new figures indicating a festive boost in footfall.
According to the latest Footfall and Vacancies Monitor from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and research group Springboard-ATCM, footfall between November and January was up by 1.8 per cent on the same period 12 months prior, rebounding from a 2.3 per cent decline in the previous quarter.
However, while out-of-town footfall increased by 3.1 per cent, high streets saw a rise of 1.4 per cent in visitor numbers and shopping centres saw just a 0.8 per cent climb in the number of shoppers.
“The lift in shopper numbers for the quarter is almost entirely down to a strong Christmas,” said BRC director-general Stephen Robertson. “Although inflation has started to ease, costs are still rising faster than wages. Any significant change in consumer sentiment is going to take time.”
The BRC warned last week that January’s stronger-than-expected increase in retail sales had been largely driven by deep discounting, with conditions for non-food retailers proving particularly tough in recent months.
