Shopper Numbers Drop Over 6%

November 2013 saw shopper numbers in Northern Ireland fall 6.3% compared to a year ago, according to new statistics released by the Northern Ireland retail Consortium (NIRC).

Footfall was up on the 9.8% decline in October 2013, but Northern Ireland's figures are still lower than the whole of the UK, where shopper numbers were down 2.9%.

Across the UK, high streets reported the greatest fall, down 4.2% and on a three-month basis reporting the worst drop since August 2012.

Aodhán Connolly, Director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said: "Footfall levels have seen some slight recovery compared against October, but that's small comfort when the drop is still so steep and lagging well behind the UK average.

"With the countdown to Christmas now well underway, retailers in Northern Ireland will hope that footfall returns to more positive territory during December."

Diane Wehrle, Retail Insights Director at Springboard, said: "The 2.9% drop in footfall in November is disappointing and suggests that Christmas trading could be challenging if December 2012 is anything to go by, when a 0.4% increase in November 2012 preceded a drop in footfall of 1.2%. And the last time footfall dropped by a similar magnitude in the build up to Christmas (2.8% in November 2010), it was then followed by a decline in footfall of 8.8% in December due to major snowfall. And it doesn't appear that there is any one particular region in the UK that performed well in November, with all regions recording a decline in footfall over the year.

"However, there were differences between types of location, with shopping centres recovering slightly in November from earlier in the year, to the detriment of high streets, with a drop in footfall of 1.0% cent compared with 4.2% in high streets and 2.1% out-of-town. The similarity to November 2010 is visible here too, as footfall in high streets dropped by 4.0% three years ago compared with a modest drop of just 0.2% in shopping centres and 2.7% out-of-town."

(IT/MH)