Shopper numbers back in the red but decline may be slowing
6 June 2006
UNITED KINGDOM — Retail research group Synovate Retail Performance's Retail Traffic Index™ (RTI™) for May, released today, showed shopper number falls of 3.0% year-on-year and 2.7% against April. This makes it 10 months out of the last 12 in which a year-on-year decline has been recorded. Neither of the two May Bank Holiday weekends recorded year-on-year improvements in the number of shopping trips made. For May Day Bank Holiday weekend (29th April to 1st May) the RTI fell by 0.1% against last year and over the late May Bank Holiday weekend (27th May to 29th May) it was 0.6% lower.
Dr Tim Denison, Director of Knowledge Management at Synovate Retail Performance commented; "At a headline level, there was little for retailers to be cheery about in May. Consumer confidence remained fragile and depressed, and the wettest May for 20 years hardly encouraged shoppers out. This said there were a few chinks of light in the figures to signify some better news.
"Firstly, the year-on-year fall of 3.0% was better than Synovate Retail Performance had forecast (-4.4%) and is well above the 4-5% year-on-year deficit band in which retail footfall has been running of late. Key to this was an improvement to the figures in the South East, where shopper numbers were down just 3.4% year-on-year against a projection of - 5.0%. We shall await to see whether this is the first sign of a return to health amongst shoppers in the South East.
"Secondly, some sectors are showing strong uplifts in shopper numbers. In particular the baby goods and childrenswear sector is seeing a remarkable surge. During May retail traffic in the sector grew by 7.8% year-on-year. Elsewhere, one other notable sector on which to comment is in homeware and DIY, where shopper numbers in May held their own (0.0% change) against last year. We shall watch with interest to see whether this is indicative of consumers beginning to release the brake on their home investment plans and expenditure as the national house market strengthens again.
"The latest RTI figures add weight to the expected 'no change' decision from the MPC over interest rates on Thursday. The fact that the year-on-year trend in retail traffic levels has not worsened in May, but remains negative, will give comfort to those who want to see less reliance on consumer spending in the economy.
Retailers or analysts wishing to find out more about Synovate Retail Performance's award-winning customer services should contact Dr Denison at Synovate Retail Performance on 01908 682700. Media enquiries should be directed to Theo Chalmers at Verve PR on 01908 275271.
Contact(s) for this press release
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Tim Denison
Synovate Retail Performance |
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34 Walker Avenue |
Tel. +44 (0) 1908 682 700 |
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Theo Chalmers
Managing Director, Verve Public Relations |
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Park House, 8 Grove Ash |
Tel. +44 1908 275 271 |
Synovate Retail Performance provides footfall monitoring solutions, shopper tracking systems and in-store behavioural research to retailers worldwide. Its core products – Shopper Count, Shopper Interact and Shopper Engage – scientifically measure all aspects of a shopper experience from store entry to exit. Originally founded as Solution Products Systems Ltd (SPSL) in the UK in 1998, it was acquired by Synovate in December 2007 and now offers unrivalled global reach and scalability through Synovate's network of in-country teams and three specialist hubs based in Europe, North America and the Far East.
It supplies national and international retailers with essential business metrics to drive accountability and performance improvement. Synovate Retail Performance harnesses powerful retail and shopper intelligence and creates real deployable insight, to deliver its mantra of "Measure, Manage, Improve" to clients.
Synovate Retail Performance is home to the Retail Traffic Index series, which for over 10 years has been the industry's leading tracker of national, regional and sector retail footfall trends. It is also co-founder of the KPMG / Synovate Retail Think Tank, offering thought leadership on the state of retail health and the future of retailing. Synovate Retail Performance is part of Synovate Customer Experience, Synovate's global business practice specialising in the profitable management of the total sum of all customer interactions.
For more information on Synovate Retail Performance click here.
About The Retail Traffic Index (RTI)
The RTI from Synovate Retail Performance is regarded as the national benchmark of retail shopper traffic flow. It is constructed using a nationally representative sample of over 520 million visits to over 3,100 retail premises per annum across the UK, excluding the grocery, convenience and minor retail service sectors.
For further details and a full explanation see here.
About Synovate
Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis Group plc, generates consumer insights that drive competitive marketing solutions. The network provides clients with cohesive global support and a comprehensive suite of research solutions. Synovate employs over 6,000 employees across 62 countries.
For more information on Synovate visit www.synovate.com.