Last month's wet weather dampened shoppers' appetites for visiting stores, just as retailers gear up for the key Christmas season. Footfall on High Streets, retail parks and shopping centres fell by 5.7% in October from a year earlier, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Cost of living pressures also affected spending habits, it said, with consumer confidence still weak. Shoppers are more reluctant to make bigger purchases, the BRC added. The heavy rainfall seen last month, which included the impact of Storm Babet, meant many people were decided to stay at home rather than head to the shops, the retail body said. The retail sector is now in what is known as the "golden quarter", a key period of the year when many companies make the bulk of their annual profits. It covers the run-up to Christmas, as well as the Black Friday sales period. Black Friday has developed from a one-off day of sales to many shops extending offers all week, and in some cases all month. Andy Sumpter of Sensormatic Solutions, which helped to compile the BRC data, said shoppers were becoming more "focused", as they become "more accepting of the current reality of paying more to buy less".
