Retail parks come out on top over Easter

Sunny weather and last minute shoppers drew in the crowds to retail parks on Easter Monday, as shoppers stepped out to stock up on DIY products, according to figures released by retail data company Springboard.

While footfall on Good Friday and Easter Saturday remained almost at level pegging with the same period last year, dropping slightly at -1% and -1.9%, footfall until 1pm on Monday saw an increase of 22.9%.

Despite competing with one of the coldest Easters on record last year, the weather was not enough to tempt shoppers out to the high street on Friday or Saturday though, with footfall dropping -8.4% and -10.7% respectively.

However, the last day of the Bank Holiday encouraged people to step out on Monday and enjoy the sun, and high street footfall was boosted by 10.2%. Shopping centres saw a drop in footfall on Friday and Saturday by -11.3% and -10.4%, but again enjoyed the benefits of holiday spending with footfall increasing by 7.1% on Monday.

Springboard marketing and Insights director Diane Wehrle 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 was the last day to enjoy shopping and make a day of it before the end of the bank holiday, and calm weather encouraged people to head out for last minute spending.”