Insight: Easter footfall could rise by as much as 2.4% if snow does not return
UK retail footfall over the Easter weekend could be 2.4% higher than Easter 2017 according to new figures from Springboard.
However, if snow and ice make a return to the UK over the weekend as some forecasts suggest, the retail intelligence firm estimates that footfall could drop by as much as 15% from last year.
Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s insights director, said: “With normal weather Easter Weekend footfall is anticipated to increase due to a range of factors including the timing of national payday before Easter, the milder weather following recent periods of adverse weather, the ongoing demand for leisure oriented trips, and the bounce back in footfall in February from December and January.
“The timing of national payday before Easter Weekend in 2018 means that households are likely to have some discretionary spending budget available that will not yet have been spent or allocated.”
The 0.5% drop in footfall in February was less than a third of that recorded in January, and better than the 12-month average of a decline 0.7%.
With footfall over Easter declining in both 2016 and 2017 by around 2%, Springboard has pointed out that an uplift of 2.4% would be a modest one and would mean that footfall would still be lower than over Easter in 2015.
