The Bookseller.com

25th July 2008

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Easter shopper numbers fall

02.04.08 Graeme Neill

Shopper numbers dropped by 9.2% over the Easter fortnight, compared to the holiday period last year. Figures from retail analyst SPSL's Retail Traffic Index revealed that the drop in footfall in the two weeks to 29th March outstripped its own predictions of a 5.2% fall.

Dr Tim Denison, retail psychologist at SPSL, said shops had suffered from a "combination of poor weather, a very early Easter and shortened school breaks over the traditional holiday fortnight, on top of the growing underlying financial pressures on the consumer".

Denison added that trading conditions remained "tricky". "Retailers are constantly monitoring their sales and footfall figures to decide whether or not to stimulate trade with short-term price-cutting," he said. "Some have already chosen to go down that route, while others have elected to run clearance campaigns to offload seasonal stock. I have little doubt that this will be the busiest period for many a year for retail marketers and merchandisers, as they respond to increasing head office pressures to build turnover."

The book market fared better in trading in the run-up to Easter. According to figures from Nielsen BookScan, £31.4m worth of books were sold in the week ending 22nd March, up 15.9% on the same week last year. Last week, revenue through the Total Consumer Market fell week-on-week by 12.1% to £27.6m but remained static in year-on-year comparisons. Revenue was down just 0.1% on the same week last year, although, at £7.01, average selling price was down 1.7%.

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