Retail footfall rose in the lead up to Easter as consumers got a chunk of shopping in ahead of the long weekend, according to retail experts Springboard.
Footfall rose 15% week-on-week during the period from Monday to Thursday leading up to Easter, with a rise of 21.9% on Thursday and 27.3% in UK high streets.
However, footfall dropped marginally by 0.1% over the weekend from the weekend before over Friday, Saturday, and Monday, while UK footfall over Easter remained 13% below 2019.
Footfall across UK retail destinations rose 5.8% on Good Friday from the week before, with footfall in coastal towns up an impressive 33.6% and UK high street footfall rising 10% on Good Friday.
In historic towns footfall rose by 15.8%, Central London was up 14.3% and large UK city centres saw a 14.5% increase on the first day of the long weekend break.
Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s insights director, said: “Two factors heavily influenced footfall activity in UK retail destinations over Easter this year; the first factor was the warm and sunny weather, and the second factor was that this the first Easter bank holiday weekend since 2019 with no Covid restrictions.
“The fact that this Easter was the first since 2019 with no restrictions was likely a factor in people making trips to retail destinations in advance of Easter, rather than on the weekend itself. Over the period from Monday to Thursday leading up to Easter footfall rose from the week before by an average of +15% with a rise of +21.9% on Thursday and +27.3% in UK high streets.
“In overall terms there was a marginal drop in footfall over the weekend from the weekend before of -0.1% over Friday, Saturday and Monday as a whole. However, the warm and sunny weather which made external attractions particularly attractive to consumers; high street footfall rose by +1.1% whilst in shopping centres – many of which are covered – footfall was -6.1% lower than over the same three days in the previous week.”
