Shoppers in North continued to tighten purse strings in January

Shoppers in the North tightened their purse strings again during January, making it the eight month in a row that fewer people went out to spend cash in cities and towns, retail parks and shopping centres, latest retail figures show.

The number of people shopping in main streets and retail parks across the North declined 1.2 per cent, while shopping centres suffered a large dip of 4.4 per cent in consumer figures, according to the latest Northern Ireland Retail Consortium (NIRC)/Springboard data.

Aodhán Connolly, director of NIRC, said the North also had the highest number of vacant shops in the UK last month, although the overall vacancy rate of 14.3 per cent had fallen slightly.

Mr Connolly said the latest set of disappointing figures suggested that potential shoppers were being strongly influenced by local and national politics when it came to parting with their cash, particularly in relation to future budget cuts in Northern Ireland.

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“Consumers are feeling the uncertainty along with businesses, and the proposed cuts in the department of finance’s budgetary outlook have done little to assuage concerns.

“The switching off of street lighting will simply make our high streets a less inviting place to go. Cuts to the infrastructure budget will mean that we will have a less effective transport system than our neighbours to the east or south,” said Mr Connolly.

Online spending

According to the NIRC/Springboard retail report, the latest shopper footfall figures are the worst result for January since 2015 as bricks and mortar retail outlets continue to lose ground to online spending.

Overall the report shows that retail parks were more popular with consumes than main streets or shopping centres during January because the report highlights that they win on the “convenience factor”.

Meanwhile, a new survey from Ulster Bank also points to the retail sector remaining the fastest growing sector in the North. The latest Ulster Bank PMI survey shows that overall private sector growth hit a 13 month high in January, with business activity rising at its fastest pace since December 2016, boosted by strong new orders – especially from clients in the Republic.