Retail shopper numbers stay out of minus 4% 'drop-zone', says Synovate
4 mars 2009
UNITED KINGDOM — The Synovate Retail Traffic Index (RTI) figures for February 2009, released today, show no signs of even the first green shoots for retail recovery yet they do manage to stay out of the minus 4% year-on-year 'drop-zone'. The number of shopping trips made to non-food stores in February was down by 3.4% against the same month a year ago and down by 6.7% on January. This compares with a year on year drop of 3.7% in January against that same month a year ago.
Synovate retail psychologist Dr Tim Denison said, "Much as we would all like to be seeing at least some sign of germination if not actual green shoots of recovery, these figures show that non-food shopping is still down the order on people's lifestyle and living agenda. There is a sniff of some good news here, however. The first two weeks of February had some very severe weather which curbed many shopping trips, restricting them to essential or local outings only. Given that, we should be somewhat heartened by the figures, which are marginally better than in January, when numbers were down by 3.7% year-on-year.
"In addition, we are not seeing shopper numbers fall into the minus 4% or more year-on-year 'drop-zone', a figure which we consider to indicate a serious change in shopper behaviour requiring something of a big fix. I think therefore that retailers generally, even in the sectors most hit by the downturn such as furniture, white goods and other big ticket items, should be encouraged by this. I believe that the ball is very much in the retailers' court. The message is that the shoppers are still coming into your stores, but how can you persuade them to buy from you rather than from anywhere else? I have no doubt that the retailers' buying, merchandising and operational teams are working extremely hard to answer that very question."
Denison concluded, "Although it is still difficult to see any signs of retail recovery from our figures retailers continue to have the opportunity to convert visits into sales – a challenge I have no doubt many will successfully rise to."
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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Chris Scoot
Synovate Retail Performance |
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34 Walker Avenue |
Tel. +44 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.