Shopper Numbers Slip on Last Year’s
The latest Retail Traffic Index (RTI) figures from SPSL, now part of global market research company Synovate, show that for the second proper week of Christmas shopping (Sunday 2nd December 2007 to Saturday 8th December inclusive) the number of shoppers entering retail outlets was down by 1.5% against the same week last year. This contrasts somewhat with the previous week (w/c Sunday 25th November) when numbers closely tracked last year’s, being up marginally by 0.01%.
The usual shopper ramp-up to Christmas continued however, with week-on-week numbers up by 6.4% on the previous week (w/c 25th November). This rate of growth was slightly down on the corresponding week-on-week increase of 8.0% last year.
The view from SPSL’s retail psychologist, Dr Tim Denison, is that “despite a slightly stronger start to the week over last year, things started to turn into deficit by the middle of the week. While numbers are now slightly down on last year, we are certainly not seeing any kind of high street crash in line with the reported consumer confidence crisis.
“At this stage of the run-up, consumers aren’t changing their plans about their Christmas shopping, despite the evident downturn in the housing market and the nervousness in the financial sector. Everything is still on track as far as our projections are concerned. We will know more next week as to whether the credit crunch will force some shoppers to curtail their shopping trips. With hindsight, Christmas 2007 might well go down as the season when how much to spend was determined more by the banker than the consumer.”
SPSL will be producing regular reports in the lead up to Christmas and in its aftermath. It is also inviting enquiries from media interested in exploring retail themes at this busy time.
