Outlook positive despite decline in February footfall
Retail traffic dropped again in February but analyst Footfall believes the worst may be over for the UK high street.

Its Retail FootFall Index for February 2006 showed a month-on-month change from January that was up 0.7 per cent and a year-on-year fall of 5.4 per cent.

The yearly downward trend has prevailed since July 2005, with the growth of online retail and bad weather being cited as major contributing factors, says Footfall.

'The cold weather of recent months has persuaded many consumers to avoid the high street and stay at home. In addition, there are clear economic factors that have dented consumer confidence,' said FootFall marketing manager Natasha Burton.

'We expect to see UK economic growth of about 2.7 per cent for 2006, representing a considerable improvement on the 2 per cent recorded in 2005,' she added. 'All in all, the horizon looks much brighter for retailers than many would have expected, with the lows of late 2005 and early 2006 likely to be the worst retailers will have to endure for the foreseeable future.'

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