Footfall figures hit badly by poor weather, but those who shopped were determined to spend, says Synovate
22 December 2009
UNITED KINGDOM — This is the third of the weekly 'countdown to Christmas' releases from Synovate Retail Performance and it shows some surprising data. The latest Retail Traffic Index footfall figures for the final full week before Christmas (w/c 13th December) were in fact far weaker than predicted. The number of people out shopping in non-food stores in the UK was 7.0% lower than over the corresponding week of 2008 against a forecast of a rise of 3.7%. London and the South East suffered worst of all where retail traffic levels for the week stood a whopping 11.7% lower against the previous year. However, across the country as a whole, week-on-week shopper numbers were up by 7.6% (on w/c 6th December), as the build-up to Christmas Day continues.
Synovate's Dr Tim Denison explains, "Christmas shoppers were badly caught out by the weather in parts of the country last week. It seems that droves of people were simply put off venturing out in the snow and ice and retailing was one of the main casualties".
After a couple of solid weeks of trading, the disappointing levels of footfall in the last full week before Christmas is something that retailers would neither have expected nor welcomed. However, it is highly likely that these figures are weather-related and not indicative of a softening in underlying demand. Indeed, the extent and depth of discounting is significantly down on this time last year, implying that shoppers, whilst fewer in numbers last week, were still buying strongly. Perhaps those hardy enough to venture out were more determined than ever to make purchases. It will be fascinating to see how the John Lewis figures shape up, especially given its geographic bias to the snow-affected regions, after its impressive 15.1% increase on year-on-year sales for the previous week.
Denison continues, "There is simply no hard evidence to suggest that pre-Christmas demand has peaked, nor that people have completed their gift shopping early; quite the contrary in fact. For many of us, we are now in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable situation, whereby our plans to leave shopping to the final weekend might have been seriously foiled by Mother Nature. We now have a daunting task ahead of us, of hoping that access to the shops improves and that we can find what we need in the time remaining. This year perhaps the 'leave it to the last minute' strategy, so rewarding in the past few years, may not pay the usual dividends!"
Synovate is issuing footfall updates regularly up to and shortly after Christmas and the New Year.
Enquiries for 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 |
Telephone: +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. 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.