Christmas shopping over the weekend overtakes last year says Synovate Retail Performance
13 December 2006
UNITED KINGDOM — Provisional data from Synovate Retail Performance's Retail Traffic Index™ (RTI™) show that shopper numbers over the weekend were up on the equivalent weekend last year and up on last week too. Across the weekend as a whole, shopper numbers were up by 0.7% year-on-year and by 4.2% week-on-week. On Saturday 9th December shopper numbers were up by 1.1% on the same Saturday last year (10th Dec) and up by 3.8% on the previous Saturday (3rd December). On Sunday numbers were down by 0.1% on the same Sunday last year (11th Dec), but up by 5.0% on the previous Sunday (4th).
Dr. Tim Denison, Director of Knowledge Management at Synovate Retail Performance and leading retail psychologist comments; "Our preliminary analysis indicates that the weekend was a better one for retailers. For the first time in the run-up to Christmas this year we have seen more shoppers over a weekend going into stores than did last year. Granted, the rise of 0.7% is small, but it implies that the situation may be significantly better than some had projected. Until all of last week's data are collated and validated we have to be cautious about the conclusions that we can draw, but the weekend's news will certainly strike a note of optimism for retailers.
"Fine weather on Saturday will have helped bring shoppers out in force, but we shouldn't underestimate the role of numerous town authorities and trade associations up and down the country this weekend injecting a festive atmosphere through their Christmas parades and fairs.
"Christmas shopping is now in full swing. People were out and about in their droves over the weekend, searching for gifts and bargains. The news of Nintendo's Wii consoles having already sold out adds credence to our comments last week that shoppers should snap up the items they want when they can, rather than hang out for better deals.
Synovate Retail Performance's analysis of the retail traffic data for the full trading week commencing 3rd December will be released on Wednesday.
All enquiries for follow up or interviews with Dr Tim Denison should be directed to Theo Chalmers at Verve PR on 01908 275271 (weekdays) or 07932 004632.
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. It supplies national and international retailers with essential business metrics to drive accountability and performance improvement.
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.
General information for Synovate Retail Performance, email info.rp@synovate.com
Synovate Retail Performance Limited is registered in England and Wales under number 3552625 with its registered address at Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9AY, UK. Synovate Retail Performance is a wholly owned subsidiary of Synovate.
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 generates insights to help clients drive competitive brand, product and customer experience strategies. Now part of Ipsos, with offices in over 80 countries, our approach combines best in class global research capabilities with personalised service, local knowledge and the flexibility to create teams and processes that meet clients' specific requirements. At Synovate, our clients sit at the top of our organisational chart, driving us to continually develop more innovative research solutions that predict actual business outcomes.
For more information on Synovate visit www.synovate.com.