Northern Ireland
This coverage focuses on retail developments in Northern Ireland, including store openings and closures, local consumer trends, investment initiatives, and regional market performance. Reporting examines how retailers adapt strategy, site selection, and operations to the region’s economic, cultural, and demographic context — providing insights for executives, managers, and professionals overseeing retail activity across Northern Ireland.
-
Oct- 2018 -8 OctoberEconomy
Footfall continues to fall in September
Footfall continued on its decline in September, according to the Ipsos Retail Performance Weathermap. All regions saw a year-on-year drop in footfall, with Scotland and Northern Ireland recording a 3.3% decline and northern England seeing 5.5% less retail visitors. The Midlands, south west England and Wales and London and the…
Read More » -
Sep- 2018 -11 SeptemberComment
The escalating issue of ‘serial returners’
Retailers are already under intense pressure, from reduced margins to competition from online giants, and now they face another woe: the rise of the so-called ‘serial returners’, who deliberately buy more items than they intend to keep and return them days later. Brightpearl we recently surveyed 2,000 consumers across the…
Read More » -
10 SeptemberHigh Street
August footfall down 1.6% despite some retail park growth
Retail footfall dropped by 1.6% in August despite seeing rare retail park growth in the East and South West of the UK. The figures are according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard’s footfall and vacancies monitor with August seeing a sharper decline than the 0.8% experienced in July,…
Read More » -
4 SeptemberEconomy
Footfall ‘better than expected’ in August
Footfall fell by 4.1% in August compared with the same month last year, according to the Ipsos retail footfall tracker. Despite the drop, analysts described footfall levels as “better than expected” as the pace of year-on-year footfall decline slowed in August. Ipsos said this might be down to the success…
Read More » -
Aug- 2018 -8 AugustHigh Street
New charity shop count shows over 11,000
New research into charity shop volume on UK high streets has found there are currently 11,249 charity outlets across the country. The research, which the Charity Retail Association (CRA) told Retail Sector was the “first of its kind”, found that England alone has 9,437 charity shops on its streets. CRA…
Read More » -
6 AugustHigh Street
Footfall drops in July as customers avoid high street in heatwave
The heatwave drew customers away from the high street in July, as footfall fell by 10.8% compared with the same month in 2017. According to the Ipsos Retail Traffic Index, footfall was down in all regions compared with July 2017 with Scotland and Northern Ireland seeing 6.5% less shoppers on…
Read More » -
Jun- 2018 -4 JuneHigh Street
Footfall drops 8.6% as sunshine fails to attract shoppers
The UK high street saw an overall 8.6% year-on-year drop in footfall despite the warm May bank holidays, figures show. According to Ipsos’ UK Retail Traffic Weathermap, London and the south east saw the sharpest decline with 13.3% fewer shoppers on the high street compared with the same period last…
Read More » -
May- 2018 -14 MayEconomy
Northern Ireland suffers most from UK retail struggles
Northern Ireland is suffering the worst of retail’s bad weather, showing a 7.3% drop in footfall and a retail space vacancy rate of 14.2%, 5% higher than the UK average. The figures from statistics and research firm, Springboard, show the country reporting its worst retail performance since 2015. The decline…
Read More » -
Mar- 2018 -12 MarchHigh Street
Retail footfall drops in February
Retail footfall decreased by 0.5% in February 2018, and is a major decline compared with the rate of 1.0% seen the previous year. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) this figure is better than the three-month average of -2.0% and the twelve-month average of -0.7%. However, Greater London and…
Read More » -
Jan- 2018 -18 JanuaryEconomy
Retail has least business failures, figures show
The retail industry has the lowest number of business failures among all sectors in the UK, new data has revealed. Figures from UK and offshore company agents, Turnerlittle.com, revealed the top 10 industries with highest business “death rates”, and was put together using the Business Demography release, published by ONS…
Read More »
