Business

Number of shoppers in the north falls by 1.5 per cent

THE number of shoppers in north fell last month, according to the latest figures.

The Northern Ireland Retail Consortium said footfall was 1.5 per cent lower in August than the previous year.

That followed a 3 per cent rise in shoppers in July and came despite major events such as the World Police and Fire Games attracting tens of thousands of tourists.

The footfall monitor, compiled alongside Springboard showed the north fared worse than Britain with the UK experiencing a 0.9 per cent fall in shopper numbers on average.

It is the lowest footfall rate since March 2013.

Footfall in out-of-town locations was flat in August after a relatively strong performance over the past four months.

High street footfall meanwhile fell 0.6 per cent although this compares with a good performance a year ago.

Footfall in shopping centre locations remained weak, down 2.2 per cent but a slight improvement on July's 2.3 per cent decline.

Across the UK, the north of England and Yorkshire was the only region to report positive footfall growth - albeit up by just 0.1 per cent.

Aodhan Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium said: "It's disappointing to see that shopper numbers are down again after showing an encouraging rise in July.

"Key events like the World Police and Fire Games and the Fleadh in Derry attracted over 400,000 global visitors during August but despite this major boost to tourism the numbers are back in negative territory, reflecting that our high streets remain in a volatile position.

"Recent months have seen signs of cautious optimism taking hold but that path to recovery is still fragile.

"There is a need now for definitive action from the NI executive to ensure the health and growth of a sector that employs almost 10 per cent of the Northern Ireland working population."

Diane Wehrle, retail insights director at Springboard, said: "Somewhat surprisingly given the continuing hot weather, footfall declined by 0.9 per cent in August, which is the most significant drop since March.

"Despite this, over the quarter footfall has been stable compared with the previous quarter when it dropped by 1.9 per cent, and by 2.5 per cent over the same quarter last year.

"Given the increase in sales in August, the lack of uplift in footfall indicates that the number of customers visiting our retail locations is remaining steady in overall terms but they are spending more.

"The footfall performance of retail parks clearly reflects the fact that home products were the best performers in sales terms in August, which may well have deflected footfall away from high streets and shopping centres.

"In overall terms, however, the results for August indicate an increasing degree of stability in the performance of retail locations."