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Easter weekend footfall in 2019 is forecast to be 2.1% higher than last year when it dropped by -3.3% from Easter 2017, according to Springboard.
The provider of retail intelligence said high street footfall is set to have the greatest rise by 4.1% against -7.1% from Easter 2017. Retail parks are set to increase by 1.7% whilst shopping centres are forecast to drop by -1.9%
Springboard said ‘Easter weekend UK footfall is forecast to rise, bringing a sigh of relief to high streets and retail parks in what has been a challenging year for retail. The forecast anticipates a bounce back over the key trading period from what was an exceptionally poor Easter last year.
‘In 2018, the ‘Beast from the East’ caused retail footfall to drop, particularly in high streets where footfall declined by -7.5% over the weekend as a whole, with drops in excess of -6% every day. Furthermore, Easter last year was at the end of the month; therefore household budgets were likely to have been restricted due to the pay cycle. This year Easter falls three weeks later, in the middle of the month, which provides more spending leeway for consumers.’
Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle commented: “Despite the forecast degree of uplift in footfall, this is constrained due to subdued consumer spending that currently prevails. Therefore the forecast increase of 2.1% does not wholly make up for the drop of -3.3% last Easter.”
The vast majority of the rise in footfall over Easter this year is forecast to come from high streets. This is a result of an anticipated bounce back from the very low comparable last year of -7.5% over the weekend as a whole versus rises of 0.7% in retail parks and 1.5% in shopping centres, when poor weather meant that shoppers sought easy to access and covered shopping environments.
However, this year footfall over Easter in shopping centres is forecast to drop by -1.9%. Diane added: “With today’s ongoing demand for experience over transaction-based trips, many shopping centres are unable to satisfy the needs of consumers due to a poorer hospitality offer than in high streets.”
Springboard provides insights on bricks and mortar retail activity, tracking and forecasting footfall and delivering performance metrics across key retail destination types at national and regional levels. It tracks customers throughout the UK using automated technology, recording over 70 million footfall counts per week at 4,500 counting locations across 450 different shopping sites in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle
