Footfall down year on year according to Ipsos Retail Performance
The ongoing storm activity continues to wreak havoc on footfall numbers, according to Ipsos Retail Performance.
Storm Ciara, which hit the UK the weekend of 8 February saw UK retail footfall down -15.3 per cent. The most affected region was the North West of England, will footfall down -18.3% on the same period of last year.
Storm Dennis, which hit the UK the weekend of 15 February saw UK retail footfall down -16.3 per cent. The South West and West Midlands were the most affected with footfall down -23.5 per cent and -20.8 per cent respectively.
Commenting on the findings, Dr. Tim Denison, director of retail intelligence at Ipsos Retail Performance said:
“The two weekends had similar impacts at a UK level, as you might expect. This is quite typical of the impact on footfall of major winter storms, though not as dramatic as white outs of previous years.
“Dennis’ impact was more localised given the storm was more about rainfall than windy conditions.
“Weather is always used by retailers to blame poor sales performances, but there is genuine cause to do so when extreme weather conditions hit the country. People simply don’t want to risk going out unless they have to.”
