Stores should brace themselves for a slow Bank Holiday weekend, according to a retail tracking agency.
A rush of last-minute holidays and early summer discounting are likely to leave shop sales over the holiday weekend below normal or at best flat, claims Footfall.
While shop owners recorded a 16.4% increase in sales year-on-year over the 2004 August Bank Holiday weekend, this was largely due to ill timing of the same holiday in 2003.
"Historically there is a traditional rush of Bank Holiday breaks both in the UK and abroad with people taking full advantage of the final Bank Holiday of the year," said Natasha Burton, marketing manager at Footfall.
Last year over 15 million people travelled to the seaside for the holiday, and 1.6 million people went abroad, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.
"There are other external factors which will influence how people spend their time during the Bank Holiday weekend," Burton said.
"Retailers started their sales earlier this summer, making the Bank Holiday a non-starter in terms of enticing people back to the high street, and even those retailers discounting further could be disappointed.
The prospect of bad weather and the large national attention on the Ashes cricket match will also distract consumers from high streets, she said.
