The impact of increased footfall on the high street does not necessarily represent good news for retail recruiters.

Latest figures from the the British Retail Consortium show that retail sales values rose 4.6% on a like-for-like basis and 6.3% on a total basis in April.

But Peter Burgess, managing director at Retail HR, told Recruiter that attracting shoppers into stores is hitting margins.

“Heavy discounting is affecting margins badly. It is inevitable that with margins being squeezed further pressure will be put on suppliers. That is a normal function of a market economy.”

Russell Crowe, managing director at Retail Kudos, adds: “It is not so much due to the increase in footfall but more to do with the confidence in the market.

“We are still in  a recession. We have started to see green shoots popping up. Confidence has returned to the market and we are starting to seen an increase in the number of hires made in the next quarter.”