High street footfall shows promising signs in May

The latest figures from global retail consultancy Ipsos Retail Performance show that store visits over the May Day bank holiday were up by 8.4 percent compared to the same time last year.

According to the May retail traffic index (RTI), retail footfall held up well in May, falling by only -2.3 percent against the same month last year, stronger than the -2.9 percent drop in April. The three-month average of -1.2 percent is the narrowest gap in year-on-year footfall levels since April-June 2017, while the -0.8 percent decline in average weekly traffic compared to April denotes the best May performance for four years.

Commenting on the latest figures in a statement, Dr. Tim Denison, director of retail intelligence at Ipsos Retail Performance, said: “All in all, consumers seem to be defying all the uncertainty around Brexit. They aren’t feeling the pinch financially, so why wouldn’t they carry on regardless. The current strength of real earnings growth, consumer confidence and employment underpin the relative improvement in footfall figures.

“That said, retailers continue to make the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The cost and margin pressures that retailers are under threaten their commercial viability. Yet more major brands – Arcadia, M&S, Monsoon and Select - have all hit choppy waters last month. The sticky trading conditions are exposing poor strategic decisions of the past."

He added: “With store footfall showing signs of improving, retailers would do well to start deploying strategies to wean consumers off the discount diet that they have been fed for so long. In the long run, no-one benefits from window-to-window 70 percent reduction posters along the high street."