Diane Wehrle, Marketing & Insights Director of Springboard, warned: “With the substantial increase in energy and fuel prices, consumers are aware that increased costs are on the horizon but have not fully hit. “Inevitably this will mean less disposable income and so some retail spending will be curtailed, particularly as we enter the summer period when many consumers will be looking to reserve budget to spend on much longed for summer holidays.”
So what actually happened last month? Footfall strengthened noticeably, to -15.3% below 2019 from -20.7% in February. Martha’s figures nearly reached the level achieved in November of -14.5%, prior to the increase in Covid infections due to the Omicron variant. Footfall declined from 2019 by -17.4% in high streets, -21.3% in sh…