March Piles more gloom on the high streets
9 April 2008
UNITED KINGDOM — Figures from the Retail Traffic Index (RTI) by analysts Synovate Retail Performance, now part of global research company Synovate, show that the month of March follows the downbeat results from the Easter fortnight. Monthly footfall numbers (people actually entering shops) in the UK were down by 3.2% year-on-year and up by only 0.8% on February's figures.
Synovate Retail Performance's retail psychologist, Dr Tim Denison said; "We all knew what was coming, I suspect. All the tell-tale signs were in place - an early Easter; a disrupted school break and nervousness about rising inflation, the general economy and personal wealth circumstances. The coup de grace was the blizzards and unsettled weather which simply piled misery upon misery for retailers last month. In January and February there were at least people out there in the shops, tracking down the best deals, but even this trend has fallen away in March. The dampers on shopping now seem firmly in place.
"I suppose the most positive point from the statistics is that if we take Quarter 1 as a whole, retail traffic was only marginally down on 2007; by 0.4%. I, for one, had fully expected the quarter to be far quieter than that. We do continue to see surprisingly high levels of inertia in shopping behaviour, despite all the negative pressures. Plainly old habits die hard.
"However, every day the pinch on the consumer is reportedly more painful and less easy for them to ignore. This will be working its way through to the retailer, where the priority should probably be more about driving cash efficiencies, making every pound generated through the tills deliver that bit more before leaving the business, than purely conserving cash by aborting investment programmes. Suppliers and manufacturers can expect even tougher trading conditions to come. April will be an unsettling month all round with Easter behind us now and the summer still a long way off."
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 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.