Shopping rained-off in wet May
13 June 2007
UNITED KINGDOM — Signs that an exceptionally wet month affected shopper numbers in May are seen today in The Retail Traffic Index™ from research group Synovate Retail Performance. The figures confirm that May was a quieter month on the high streets and in the shopping malls. The RTI showed a slight year-on-year increase of 0.8% against May 2006, but a fall of 4.5% on April's figure.
According to Dr. Tim Denison, Director of Knowledge Management at Synovate Retail Performance and leading retail psychologist; "Both the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor and Synovate Retail Performance's Retail Traffic Index registered a slow down in shopping activity in May. It's really too early to say whether this is the first real sign that the series of interest rate rises are beginning to bite into the consumer's pocket, but more likely that it was a result of the extremely wet month.
"We have been expecting a downturn since the beginning of the year on the back of earlier interest rate rises and hikes in household bills, but such has been the resilience of the consumer, fuelled by the continuing surge in the housing market, that this has simply failed to materialise... until perhaps now.
"It will take another couple of months' of retail data to be sure that the consumer is beginning to apply the shopping handbrake. It may be, however, that the poor weather in May, rather than any economic tightening, was indeed the driving force behind the weaker results. Fashion retailers tend to be most susceptible to adverse weather conditions and this was certainly the case in May, where a year-on-year fall in traffic of 4.5% was measured for the fashion sector."
Heavy rain across most of the country during the early May bank holiday also conspired against retailing. Despite the break being a week later than last year, retail traffic figures were barely higher. Shopper numbers over the w/c 6th May were 0.5% up on w/c 30th April 2006.
"We would normally expect a later bank holiday to produce significantly heavier comparative footfall in shops, just as we see when Easter is late. Figures for the early bank holiday simply failed to live up to expectations and it was this period more than any other that was responsible for the actual footfall growth of 0.8% year-on-year falling short of our forecast for the month of +1.9%.
"The second May bank holiday period falls into the June reporting month, but was in stark contrast to the first. A year-on-year rise of 5.7% for w/c 27th May indicates that it is too early to talk about any step-change in levels of shopping activity. It's wise not to underestimate the resilience of the British consumer when it comes to shopping!"
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 the the KPMG / Synovate Retail Performance Retail Think Tank
The RTT was founded by KPMG and Synovate Retail Performance in February 2006. It now meets quarterly to provide authoritative 'thought leadership on matters affecting the retail industry. All outputs are consensual and arrived at by simple majority vote and moderated discussion. Quotes are individually credited. Releases and White Papers can be viewed by visiting 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.