The Jubilee led to a small upturn in retail footfall in June but the affect was short-lived, with no repeat of the three-week uplift that followed the Royal Wedding last year, according to a new study. The Retail Traffic Index from Ipsos Retail Performance found that footfall in the Jubilee week was 5.5% higher than in the same period in 2011, with some areas even higher, including northern England (+8.3%) and London and the south east (+7.7%). However, footfall returned to the usual level until the end of June, when retailers began to advertise their sales. “Figures from PriceWaterhouseCoopers suggest that slightly more stores were holding sales, with 73% of retailers selling goods at sale prices at the end of June compared to 70% last year,” said Tim Denison, head of retail intelligence at Ipsos Retail Performance. “As a consequence, the week commencing 24 June was the second busiest of the year so far (after Easter), and only marginally down (-1.4%) on the corresponding week of 2011. In the Midlands footfall flourished beyond elsewhere, registering a 0.8% increase on 2011 for the week. “The summer sales have started strongly, but July’s footfall will be conditioned by how engaged shoppers remain with the deals and how much stock retailers have to shift. With the poor summer weather, there is some hope that sales will help shift summer merchandise.” Although it predicts a positive impact from the Olympics, the Ipsos Retail Performance said the “interim assessment remains pretty bleak”. “Economic conditions remain largely much unchanged. Inflation has eased (CPI +2.8%), but it is still above average earnings (+1.9%) so disposable income is still dropping, albeit at a slower rate. “The economy remains disappointing, and with global uncertainties rising again, consumer confidence remains very low. Events of the summer may help to energise shoppers over the odd few weeks, particularly if the weather improves, but it’s going to take genuine economic growth to shift sentiment and belief in personal finance improvements. Unfortunately, there is little sign of this yet.”