Easter delivered a weekly boost to footfall as shoppers splashed out – but store traffic performance didn’t match up to last year, the latest data from Sensormatic Solutions, the leading global retail solutions portfolio of Johnson Controls, reveals.

Data from Sensormatic’s ShopperTrak Analytics insights platform, which captures 40billion store visits globally each year, showed that footfall on Good Friday (18 April 2025) delivered a +40.8% week-on-week increase to store visits across all retail destinations.  

Easter is now retail’s second biggest trading event after Christmas. This year, GlobalData said it expected Easter spending to exceed £2.3billion, with food & drink expected to be among the big winners, accounted for 70% of shoppers’ Easter budgets.  Away from food & drink, Lidl also reported a surge in garden sales as UK consumers geared up for the Easter weekend, with sales of seeds and bulbs rising by over a third in March with warmer weather prompting purchasing.

The Saturday of the Easter weekend (19 April 2025) also saw footfall rising compared to the week prior, up + 11.6%, according to Sensormatic’s data.  Meanwhile, week-on-week shopper counts on Easter Monday (21 April) jumped +17.4%, with Retail Parks seeing the greatest increase, up +27%. 

However, while Easter delivered a welcome boost to weekly shopper traffic, it couldn’t match last year’s footfall performance, with total store visits declining -7.5% over the Easter weekend compared to 2024.

“After a slow start to Spring for shopper traffic, and the late dates of Easter this year hitting footfall performance in March, retailers will have been counting on a bank holiday boost to over the Easter weekend,” Andy Sumpter, Sensormatic Solutions’ EMEA Retail Consultant, commented. 

“While retailers will have welcomed the weekly uptick in shopper traffic, many may have been left disappointed that footfall performance didn’t match that of 2024; proof, perhaps, that when it comes to peak trading events, you can’t put all your eggs in one basket.” 

Andy Sumpter, EMEA Retail Consultant, Sensormatic

“In light of continuing consumer caution and shaky shopper confidence, retailers need to double down on delivering the compelling ‘reasons to visit’, which keep shoppers coming back – both to browse and to buy,” Sumpter concluded.