Christmas Retail ‘Rush Curve’ Now Faster Than Last Year Says SPSL
Well, the shoppers have kept the retailers waiting, but now at last the ‘rush curve’ is strengthening significantly faster than last year according to SPSL’s Retail Traffic Index ™ (RTI™). In the week commencing Sunday 26th November, store traffic was up 9.1% on the previous week (commencing 19th November), while last year, by comparison, in the week commencing Sunday 27th November 2005 shopper numbers only increased by 5.7% on the previous week.
Important Note to Editors: Due to a spate of reporting errors, SPSL would like to make it clear that the RTI is the only UK index that exclusively measures the number of shoppers actually entering stores as opposed to persons entering retail centres, where there may be stores as well as other non-retail premises and which may be accessed for a host of reasons other than in order to enter a store.
Dr. Tim Denison, Director of Knowledge Management at SPSL and leading retail psychologist comments; “This latest week’s data certainly vindicates our earlier statement that Christmas trading is beginning to take off. Until last week we hadn’t seen the start of the rush in the shops, but in all truth we hadn’t expected it. Every year people leave their in-store shopping later, having done their research online and waited until tempted by offers such as secret sales and short term extravaganzas.
“While it is still too early to call with any degree of certainty how Christmas trading will fare this year, this is an encouraging sign for retailers. Nevertheless they certainly will not be complacent. They know that their margins are under attack and that even with this welcome ‘rush curve’, the build-up has been slower than last year. For the entire week commencing Sunday 26th November, although store traffic across the UK was 9.1% higher than the previous week and grew faster than it had last year, it was still down 5.1% on the same week last year. This realised figure exactly matches our forecast for the week.
“As last week wore on, the differentials in shopper numbers between this year and last steadily reduced, such that by Saturday (2nd December) they were only down by 0.1% against the same Saturday last year. On the back of these latest figures we have no reason to adjust our forecast. We still expect shopper numbers to be slightly down in December by 2.4% on 2005 – far from the disaster that some commentators have been anticipating.
“Clearly every day and every week that goes by we will get a better understanding of how the festive season is shaping up. We expect to see numbers swell again this week (week commencing 3rd December) by 7% on last week, but remain about 5% down on last year.
“The signs are that retailers have successfully managed to tempt the shopper, so starting their annual pilgrimage to the shops. Consumers seem well aware of the special offers that are out there, but we would advise them to buy whilst they can, while the special deals are being offered and the stock is available. At the end of a challenging year, retailers are unlikely to have been overly bullish in their Christmas merchandise planning, so we may see stock of popular lines begin to run out very much earlier this year. Consumers should buy when they can, rather than waiting in the hope of even cheaper bargains.”
Note
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. N.B. Media Enquiries on Thursday 7th December only to 01908 682700.
ENDS
ABOUT SPSL
Established in 1989, retail research group SPSL is the largest European provider of proprietary tools for high accuracy customer traffic and behavioural analysis deployed by retailers. The company monitors more than 420 million visits to over 2,150 retail premises per annum in the UK alone. Its customers include many of the retail industry’s most successful companies across all retail sectors except grocery, convenience and minor retail service sectors. SPSL is trusted by retailers to provide mission-critical Key Performance Indicators to measure customer volume, sales opportunities, conversion rates, staff stretch, promotional activity and in-store lay-outs. Its data features regularly in serious trade and consumer media and it exclusively provides the UK Retail Traffic Weather Map as seen in Retail Week and on the Retail Bulletin website. Director of SPSL, retail psychologist Dr. Tim Denison is a frequent and popular commentator on issues relating to shopping for national and regional broadcast, print and online media.
Using SPSL systems, retailers are able to reliably measure customer traffic flow on an ongoing hour-by-hour basis as well as determine in-store ‘weather’, assess the impact of marketing initiatives, and tailor staff levels according to customer demand rather than service supply. The company owes its unrivalled reputation and success on the accuracy, dependability and specialist nature of both its data and its support services. It runs its UK and European operations from its head office in Milton Keynes, England and invests heavily in developing advanced behavioural analysis and tracking tools to create ever more beneficial trading results for its customers and ever more enriched shopping experiences for theirs.
STOP PRESS: SPSL wins GLA tender. From 24th July 2006, SPSL has been appointed as sole official supplier of footfall data to the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Transport for London (TfL). The GLA has entrusted SPSL with this critical task in order to have a truly accurate measure of the impact of the existing Congestion Zone and the proposed Congestion Zone western extension on shopper numbers in central London. SPSL is proud to enter into this relationship with the GLA and to have demonstrated once again the superior accuracy, robustness and reliability of its data.
ABOUT THE RETAIL TRAFFIC INDEX (RTI)
The RTI from SPSL is regarded as the national benchmark of retail shopper traffic flow. It is constructed using a nationally representative sample of over 420 million visits to over 2,150 retail premises per annum across the UK, excluding the grocery, convenience and minor retail service sectors. For further details and a full explanation see www.customercounting.com.
For PRODUCT information please contact:
Dominic McGuinness or Dr Tim Denison
SPSL
34 Walker Avenue
Wolverton Mill
MILTON KEYNES
MK12 5TW
Tel: +44( 0)1908 682700
Fax: +44( 0)1908 682739
website: www.customercounting.com
MEDIA enquiries to:
Theo Chalmers
Verve Public Relations
Park House, 8 Grove Ash
Mount Farm
MILTON KEYNES MK1 1BZ
Tel: +44( 0)1908 275271
Fax: +44( 0)1908 275272
e-mail: t.chalmers@vervepr.co.uk