Shop footfall in Northern Ireland climbed 3.5% in January compared to the same month the year before, a report said today.
According to the data from the NI Retail Consortium (NIRC) and Sensormatic, footfall in high street stores and shopping centres here had staged a strong recovery after a fall of 5.8% in December.
In shopping centres around the region, footfall had increased by 5.2% year on year in January, an improvement on the 5.7% decline of January.
And footfall in Belfast had surged by 4.8% year on year, turning around a decline of 7.2% in December. UK-wide, footfall had surged by 6.6%.
But bad weather towards the end of the month when Storm Éowyn struck kept shoppers at home.
And Belfast’s performance was actually seventh out of 11 UK cities, with Birmingham top of the leader board with a footfall rise of 14.3%.
Neil Johnston, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said: “Bargain hunters were hitting the shops across the country in January however whilst the numbers in Northern Ireland were strongly positive, they were understandably held back by Storm Éowyn.
“The numbers of shoppers out and about was up by 3.5% across Northern Ireland and by 4.8% in Belfast. This was encouraging albeit somewhat behind the UK wide figure of 6.6%.
“On closer inspection it seems while the number of shoppers was up across the board in January the numbers in Northern Ireland and Scotland were notably lower than elsewhere.
“Storm Éowyn impacted hardest in Ireland, north and south, and in Scotland, so this clearly deterred shoppers. In addition to the actual storm on the Friday the impact on road and power infrastructure meant that many people had other things to focus on other than shopping.
“Overall, January was an encouraging month, and we hope that things will continue to improve.”
Andy Sumpter, retail consultant EMEA for Sensormatic Solutions, added: “After a dreary December, retailers will welcome January’s footfall jump.
“The uptick was boosted by a very strong week one, helped in part by New Year’s Day falling on a Wednesday, which may have prompted ambient store traffic as consumers bolted on additional days of leave, as well as retailers extending post-Christmas discounting well into January.
“Not even the significant disruption from Storm Éowyn was enough to dampen overall footfall performance. While welcome, after months of erratic and constrained footfall, the jury’s out as to whether January’s store performance signals the start of a sustained high street revival or if it will be a flash in the pan come February.”
But he said there was a challenge ahead for retailers on solving the conundrum of how to maintain footfall while balancing the effects of rising labour costs with the continued consumer appetite for discounts.