Bargain hunters hit the shops in greater numbers across Northern Ireland in January, data from the NI Retail Consortium (NIRC) and Sensormatic shows.
Overall footfall increased by 3.5% year on year, and follows a disappointing 5.8% decline in December.
Shopper numbers also rose across shopping/garden centres (up 5/2%) and in Belfast (up 4.8%) over the five weeks from December 29 to February 1.
But the numbers were knocked off course Storm Éowyn, which effectively locked the region down for a key Friday trading period, impacting retailers and costing the overall economy hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“Storm Eowyn impacted hardest in Ireland and in Scotland, so this clearly deterred shoppers,” according to Neil Johnston, director of the NI Retail Consortium.
“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.
“But overall, January was an encouraging month, and we hope that things will continue to improve.”
He added: “While it is encouraging that the numbers of shoppers out and about was up by 3.5% across Northern Ireland, it was still behind the UK wide figure of 6.6%.”
Andy Sumpter, retail consultant 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 Eowyn 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.
“And, even if shopper traffic recovery has finally turned a corner, the challenge for retailers will be solving the next conundrum - how they balance enhanced footfall and the significant rises to labour costs borne out of the Budget.”
