Good Friday shopping beats analyst expectations

The number of people heading out to the shops on the first day of the Easter holiday weekend "exceeded all expectations", but are still below pre-pandemic levels.

Analysts at Springboard said Good Friday saw a rise in footfall in High Streets compared with both last week and the same period last year.

Retail parks and shopping centres also saw a bump in customers.

However, overall, footfall dropped by 11% from 2019.

Springboard said the results were a "continuation of strong activity" earlier in the week, as people took the school holiday in the run up to Easter as a chance to shop.

Diane Wehrle, Springboard's insights director, said that while retails parks saw steady footfall throughout the day, people were heading out "later in the day" for shopping at high streets and shopping centres.

Overall, there was a rise of 18.6% across all UK destinations compared with last week, and compared with 2022, it was a rise of 3.6%.

Compared with retail parks and shopping centres, High Street numbers are still suffering the worst hit from the pandemic, having dropped 14.5% since 2019.

Shops in coastal towns saw the biggest week-on-week increase, up 55.1%, as the sunny weather drew people out to destinations popular with day trippers. However, measured against market towns and historic towns, coastal area footfall is still lower than both last year, and before the pandemic.

Although the general trend sees the gap in footfall narrowing from pre-pandemic levels, shoppers continue to struggle with big rises in the cost of living, with energy bills and grocery prices squeezing household budgets.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that recent recovery in numbers had slowed as inflation - the rate at which prices rise - is close to a 40-year high, with consumers and businesses facing a "challenging economic environment".

The BRC added that weekend shopping is seeing a revival as more people return to working in offices during the week, although numbers remain below pre-pandemic levels and that a recent recovery in numbers had slowed.