After the Christmas peak, shoppers returned to the shops to take advantage of savings in the January Sales, but they “hit the stores earlier and en masse to compete for the best bargains”, according to Synovate’s retail psychologist, Dr Tim Denison.

The first full week of the new year saw retail footfall levels fall drastically from the plateau that had been sustained over the last three busy weeks of December. Shopper numbers for the week were 25 per cent lower than the final week of 2008. Over the remaining three weeks of January, numbers stabilised somewhat but still slid by a further 10 per cent on average against the first week. Footfall for the month dropped to the levels more typical of February.

Synovate’s Denison says retailers must be prepared for a “brave new retail world” as consumer confidence threatens to slump even further and the availability of consumer credit dwindles. Denison concluded: “It is very difficult at the moment to be upbeat about the health and prosperity of the retail sector. These latest Synovate figures confirm that consumer demand is currently fickle and unpredictable. Retailers will need to stay very close to their shoppers’ behaviour and be hyper-sensitive to their needs in order to win their custom over the coming months.”

Meanwhile, the recent snowy conditions have done little to boost the retail economy. The recent icy conditions brought much of Britain to a standstill, with closures of schools, disruptions on public transport and hazardous driving conditions forcing workers to stay at home.

The weather also affected footfall to the nation’s shopping centres, recent research from Experian has found. According to Experian’s figures, there was a year-on-year decrease of almost 25 per cent in the number of customers visiting shopping centres on the first Monday in February.

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