RETAILERS could suffer during poor weather if their websites are not up to scratch, a North-East online shopping directory has warned.

During the recent cold snap, which saw snow and ice bring many areas of the country to a standstill, retailers reported a significant drop in footfall.

The British Retail Consortium reported footfall to have been down by as much as 26 per cent on some days during the bad weather.

However, shoppers continued to search for bargains, turning to the internet to take advantage of the sales.

However, Darlington-based shopping directory shopsafe.

co.uk, which is visited by thousands of people each day, has said that if companies do not have websites which are accessible and usable to shoppers, they face missing out on sales.

Simon Crisp, director of shopsafe.co.uk, warned that, due to the level of choice available online, shoppers will desert retailers with poor websites.

“One of the biggest consequences of the snow and icy conditions has been that people stopped travelling unless it was absolutely necessary,”

he said.

“In this age of internet shopping, whether it is ordering groceries for delivery or picking up a sales bargain, people have been going online to fill that gap, but if a website is not up to scratch then customers will move on to another retailer because there is so much choice.”

However, Mr Crisp points out, those retailers with userfriendly websites have reaped the benefits.

“Talking to e-tailers, they are reporting an increase in traffic during this period.

John Lewis’ recent figures show a multi-channel approach helping them through the freeze,” he said.

The site shopsafe.co.uk is an online directory visited by, on average, 10,000 people a day accessing 4,000 retailers, including names such as House of Fraser, Amazon, Next and Hamleys.