Retail parks come out top for Easter footfall
New figures have shown that retail parks emerged as the winners in the battle for footfall over the Easter weekend as shoppers stepped out to stock up on DIY products.
According to data released by retail performance insights firm Springboard, footfall on Good Friday and Easter Saturday dropped by 1% and 1.9% respectively. However, footfall until 1.00pm on Easter Monday saw an increase of 22.9%.
Despite last year’s Easter weekend being one of the coldest on record, this year’s warmer weather was not enough to tempt shoppers out to the high street on Friday or Saturday with footfall dropping by 8.4% and 10.7% respectively. However, the last day of the Bank Holiday encouraged people to step out on Monday to boost high street footfall by 10.2%.
Shopping centres saw a drop in footfall on Friday and Saturday of 11.3% and 10.4% respectively although the picture improved on Monday when footfall grew by 7.1%.
Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard, said: “The results on Friday and Saturday shows people are clearly still very nervous about spending and the recovery is fragile. Easter weekend is the next big trading opportunity for retailers after Christmas and a huge opportunity, but people may have chosen to spend their holiday doing activities other than shopping over the first two days. However, Monday is the last day to enjoy shopping and make a day of it before the bank holiday ends, and calm weather has encouraged people to head out for last minute spending.”
