Pent-up demand and good weather bring UK shoppers out in May

The UK recorded a slight rise in shop footfall in May which has been attributed to good weather and the need to shop after being in lockdown.

DATA from consumer intelligence firm Springboard showed a 73.3 per cent decrease in the number of people who physically purchased in shops rather than online, the worst on record.

But it was up on the 80 per cent fall in April after non-essential shops were forced to close on March 23 to combat the spread of coronavirus.

Director of Springboard, Diant Wehrle said that despite the growth in shopping online since lockdown, “there is a huge amount of pent-up demand amongst consumers for bricks-and-mortar shopping.”

Some home stores and garden centres reopened during May and car showrooms opened their doors from the start of this month.

Non-essential retail will reopen in mid-June.