6% slump in trips to shops

SHOPPERS must have had better things to do in March.

The number visiting retailers that month fell by 6 per cent – the steepest year-on-year fall since the end of 2010, figures show.

The decline – compared with an average 1.4 per cent drop over the last year – was seen mostly in Greater London, down 7.5 per cent, the South East (6.5 per cent) and the East Midlands (5.6 per cent) the British Retail Consortium said.

Chief executive Helen Dickinson said that while the bad weather was partly to blame, shopping habits were changing.

‘We are seeing a longer term trend of reduced footfall which highlights that shoppers face more choice in terms of how, where and when they shop,’ she added.