Footfall in March was 0.2% higher than a year ago, an improvement on the 0.5% fall in February, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard.
This is above the three-month average of -0.5% and best overall footfall performance since March 2014, and High Streets were the only location to report a decline, falling 1.4%. Five regions and countries reported footfall above the UK average, with the East, Scotland and the South West reporting the greatest increases.
BRC director general Helen Dickinson commented: “These results show the ongoing transformational change in the retail industry with the blurring lines of physical and digital making these figures difficult to read in their monthly isolation. Nevertheless, these are encouraging footfall results.
“Out-of-town locations led the way in March with its fifteenth straight month of footfall growth. This story was echoed in shopping centres which posted its largest rise in shopper numbers since January 2014. Considering that this is only the second time in the last two years that we have seen positive footfall growth in this category, retailers can view these results as promising. We can be very pleased overall with the month’s performance although it is important to note that these figures are largely driven by the timing of the Easter bank holiday.”
