Shoppers opt to stay indoors over wet Easter weekend

Saturday fared slightly better with footfall down 6.9 per cent and Sunday saw an increase of 1.3 per cent.

While rain impacted the high streets, footfall in retail parks and shopping centres increased.

According to Springboard Insights, overall UK footfall dropped 2.4 per cent on Good Friday and three per cent on Easter Saturday.

Diane Wehrle, Springboard Insights director said, “Despite poor weather, shoppers have definitely been visiting retail destinations this Easter Weekend. Footfall in retail parks and shopping centres increased by +5 per cent compared to Good Friday and Easter Saturday last year, but the persistent rain has definitely impacted high streets.

“In the regions that had rain on Friday and Saturday, footfall was noticeably down on high streets (by -9.6 per cent on Friday and by -6.9 per cent on Saturday) which pulled the overall result for high streets down. On Sunday rain across the UK largely eased, which clearly encouraged consumers to venture out into high streets and pleasingly footfall rose by +1.9 per cent.”

She added, “The greater number of high streets compared with retail parks and shopping centres means that the drop in footfall in high streets pulled the overall result for all UK destinations down (to -2.4 per cent on Good Friday and -3 per cent on Easter Saturday).”