Shoppers treat retailers to some extra goodwill on Christmas Eve
27 December 2007
UNITED KINGDOM — Christmas Eve continued the consumer goodwill towards retailers shown over the weekend, according to the final Retail Traffic Index (RTI) figures to be released before Christmas from analysts Synovate Retail Performance, now part of global market research company Synovate. The RTI recorded shopper numbers on Monday 24th December to be up 40.2% on Christmas Eve 2006 and 0.5% higher than the previous Monday, 17th December.
"Christmas Eve used to be the day when men up and down the country started (and hopefully completed) their Christmas shopping," according to Synovate Retail Performance retail psychologist, Dr Tim Denison. "This is less true in 2007 than it perhaps was in the 1970s, but nonetheless the majority of the people out shopping for presents yesterday would have been men. As the day wore on, retailers will have seen Average Transaction Values (ATVs) rising as husbands, partners, boyfriends and brothers started to panic, running out of time and inspiration, settling on something perhaps a little more extravagant than they had planned.
"After the strong trading over the weekend and the fact that Christmas Eve last year fell on the Sunday, everything that the shops brought in yesterday would have been treated very much as bonus by retailers. The fact that the number of people out shopping in non-food stores yesterday was even higher than Sunday 23rd will have come as a very pleasant Christmas present to them", said Denison. "Stores selling top-up gifts such as books, DVDs, CDs and games were particularly busy, whether or not this was on the back of the reported failure of internet-bought presents arriving on time.
"The run-up to Christmas will already be in the rear-view mirror and retailers tomorrow will be focused on the Sales, which have become a key part of December's performance. In recent years a growing number of retailers have opened their doors on Boxing Day, but there seems to be less urgency to do so this year. The 26th will not be the key day in the Sale calendar; that accolade will belong to the 27th, which we expect to be the busiest trading day of 2007."
Results from 26th and 27th will be reported by Synovate Retail Performance on Friday 28th. 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.