SHOPPERS RETURNED to the tills in March, bringing to an end six months of declining footfall in the Republic's shopping centres and suggesting that consumers are remaining resilient to the slowdown in the Irish economy.
Figures from Experian show that the early Easter boosted consumers' spending habits after a cautious start to the year. There was a 13 per cent increase in footfall in the third week of March compared to the same period last year, with overall footfall figures in the month up 1.2 per cent on March 2007.
Experian's national footfall index also reveals that the week of St Valentine's Day was a bumper one for retailers and marked a turnaround in their fortunes after the subdued January sales.
"Perhaps motivated by romance, shoppers returned to stores in significant numbers during Valentine's week. This increased activity resulted in Valentine's week becoming the first week in 2008 to better that of 2007," said Mark Mullally, property services manager at Experian.
Mr Mullally said the findings, which are based on customer numbers in a nationwide sample of shopping centres, pointed to a bounce in consumer confidence, with the Irish retail market holding up well compared to Britain.
But he cautioned that the early Easter may have distorted retail trends. "While the positive figures for March are welcome, it remains to be seen whether footfall will continue to grow in the second quarter of the year."
A more detailed picture of the health of the retail sector is likely to emerge this week. Tesco publishes its 2007 results this morning, while wholesaler Musgrave, which controls the SuperValu and Centra chains, publishes its figures on Thursday.
The Central Statistics Office will also release retail sales statistics for February on that day.
In Northern Ireland shopping activity for each of the first three months of the year has exceeded 2007, leading to an overall increase of 1.9 per cent. February saw a 21.3 per cent month on month increase. In Britain, shopper numbers have declined in each of the first three months.
