Business

Pre-festive boost for retailers as shopper numbers show huge spike

Shoppers out in Belfast, where footfall was much improved in November
Shoppers out in Belfast, where footfall was much improved in November Shoppers out in Belfast, where footfall was much improved in November

CHRISTMAS may just have come early for Northern Ireland retailers as new figures reveal shopper numbers on the region's high streets and in shopping centres were markedly up during November.

For while footfall was in freefall in virtually every UK region over the period, Northern Ireland’s growth of 3.5 per cent was by far the strongest and was the sharpest year on year rise in footfall since August 2014.

And the numbers from monitoring experts Springboard will buoy traders in the north's towns and cities as they enter the busiest fortnight in their year.

Even London has seen a decline in shopper numbers, and the the UK as a whole, footfall numbers are down 1 per cent.

British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “The drop in footfall we saw across the UK in October deepened in November, with shopper numbers falling 1 per cent over the previous year compared to October’s fall of 0.4 per cent.

“As we saw in the sales data, Black Friday did little to impact the overall monthly trend in footfall. Whilst the event clearly attracted shoppers to stores, it was retailers’ online offerings who were the real winner, with shoppers for non-food items spending more than one in four pounds online, setting a new record for online share."

She added: “It’s clear that the browser is rapidly replacing the high street as the venue of choice to hunt down a bargain.

"And with that trend set to continue, the role of physical stores - still an enormously important part of retail - is shifting and retailers are having to re-engineer and reinvent their real estate to work seamlessly with their digital presence.”

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, which collates the data, said: “November footfall revealed four distinct trends: a continued bounce back of the high street from last year with footfall moving to -0.7 per cent from -3.4 per cent in November 2015; the ongoing significance of Black Friday for the high street as well as online; a slowdown in the growth of footfall to out of town destinations; and of most concern, a further decline in footfall to shopping centres.

“November was the seventh month with an improvement in high street footfall, but Black Friday is the key trading feature of November; not only was it the busiest trading day of the month but footfall rose by 2 per cent from Black Friday last year.

"Online purchases rose by 6.7 per cent versus a forecast increase of 25 per cent, demonstrating that whilst consumers shopped and researched discounts online, they also visited bricks and mortar stores.

“However, the concerning ongoing trend is a further decline of -2.3 per cent in footfall to shopping centres.

"Some of this reduction is inevitable, as malls are dominated by retailers that trade equally effectively online, leading to a shift away from the need for frequent functional trips to longer, leisure driven trips that are undertaken less often.

"The challenge now for malls is future-proofing their success by delivering an integrated retail experience that satisfies consumers appetites, suggesting that if investors don't regain confidence to invest in upgrading their shopping centres, the decline could continue throughout 2017."