Bumpy Christmas points to New Year's bargains
27 décembre 2007
UNITED KINGDOM — The final run-up to Christmas has been a bumpy ride for retailers, presaging a bumper Sales season according to the latest Retail Traffic Index (RTI) figures from analysts Synovate Retail Performance, now part of global market research company Synovate. For the week commencing Sunday 16th December, the Retail Traffic Index was down 8% against the same week of 2006, but up by 15.1% on the previous week.
The most heartening news of the week for retailers was that shopper numbers on Saturday 22nd were up by 7.2% on Saturday 23rd 2006 and by 5.6% against the previous Saturday. Sunday too was a much better day than last year, though many shops closed their doors early in the afternoon then, as it was Christmas Eve. Shopper numbers were up by 23.1% against last year and by 5.2% week-on-week.
Synovate Retail Performance's spokesman, Dr Tim Denison said; "Last year the final weekend before Christmas was a wash-out. Everyone was expecting a last minute surge, but it simply failed to happen. The opposite is true this year: Saturday was a mega-day - the busiest shopping day of the year so far. Whether it was on the back of concerns over whether postal deliveries of gifts bought on the internet would arrive, or simply that people had left more of their shopping until the last minute; hoping for prices to tumble, we can't say.
"It is true that the weekdays this last week were all disappointingly quiet, but the weekend results would have given back some comfort to retailers up and down the country. Although it's likely that most retailers will now settle for the results, nevertheless, this has been such a topsy-turvy Christmas with no clear-cut trend developing, that most retailers particularly in fashion, shoes and big ticket items such as furniture and white goods will, more than likely, make significant deep-cut discounts after Christmas.
"Looking forward, therefore, we expect it to be a bumper Sale season. The 27th December may well turn out to be the busiest shopping day of the year, even busier than this last Saturday, but I don't expect it to exceed the record-breaking day it was last year. Forecasts are there to be shot down, though, and in this lumps-and-bumps campaign, who would bet against it? Certainly it seems that consumers are happy to carry on with their spending spree a little longer.
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. 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 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 6,400 staff across 62 countries.
For more information on Synovate visit www.synovate.com.