Shoppers Treat Retailers to Some Extra Goodwill on Christmas Eve: Retail Industry News From SPSL

Shoppers Treat Retailers to Some Extra Goodwill on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve continued the consumer goodwill towards retailers shown over the weekend, according to the final Retail Traffic Index (RTI) figures to be released before Christmas from analysts SPSL, now part of global market research company Synovate. The RTI recorded shopper numbers on Monday 24^th December to be up 40.2% on Christmas Eve 2006 and 0.5% higher than the previous Monday, 17^th December.

“Christmas Eve used to be the day when men up and down the country started (and hopefully completed) their Christmas shopping,” according to SPSL retail psychologist, Dr Tim Denison. “This is less true in 2007 than it perhaps was in the 1970s, but nonetheless the majority of the people out shopping for presents yesterday would have been men. As the day wore on, retailers will have seen Average Transaction Values (ATVs) rising as husbands, partners, boyfriends and brothers started to panic, running out of time and inspiration, settling on something perhaps a little more extravagant than they had planned.

“After the strong trading over the weekend and the fact that Christmas Eve last year fell on the Sunday, everything that the shops brought in yesterday would have been treated very much as bonus by retailers. The fact that the number of people out shopping in non-food stores yesterday was even higher than Sunday 23^rd will have come as a very pleasant Christmas present to them”, said Denison. “Stores selling top-up gifts such as books, DVDs, CDs and games were particularly busy, whether or not this was on the back of the reported failure of internet-bought presents arriving on time.

“The run-up to Christmas will already be in the rear-view mirror and retailers tomorrow will be focused on the Sales, which have become a key part of December’s performance. In recent years a growing number of retailers have opened their doors on Boxing Day, but there seems to be less urgency to do so this year. The 26^th will not be the key day in the Sale calendar; that accolade will belong to the 27^th, which we expect to be the busiest trading day of 2007.”

ENDS

Results from 26^th and 27^th will be reported by SPSL on Friday 28^th. 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.

About SPSL - now part of Synovate

Established in 1989, retail research group SPSL is Europe’s leading provider of proprietary tools for scientific footfall monitoring and behavioural analysis deployed by retailers. SPSL monitors more than 1.02 billion visits to over 4,600 retail premises per annum in the UK and currently operates in 14 European countries and in North America. 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 high accuracy, mission-critical Key Performance Indicators to measure customer volume, sales opportunities, conversion rates, staff stretch, promotional activity and in-store lay-outs.

In December 2007 SPSL became part of Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis Group plc. With over 5,700 staff in 115 cities across 51 countries, Synovate provides clients with cohesive global support and a comprehensive suite of research solutions. More information on SPSL can be found at www.customercounting.com; on Synovate at www.synovate.com.