Shoppers continue to be wary of their expenditure on goods and services. Image courtesy of rgbstock/drow.
The
Retail Traffic Index (RTI) which is compiled by
Ipsos Retail and monitors the volume of shoppers in non-food stores across the UK has revealed that the
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee resulted in a small, albeit short-lived, lift in June footfall.
Unlike the Royal Wedding in 2011, there was no similar three week boost following the Jubilee.
Ipsos Retail suggest that the low levels of footfall experienced in the middle of June could be attributed to the bad weather as well as the enduring theme of
shoppers continuing the be wary of their expenditure on goods and services. However, after a subdued couple of weeks the month ended strongly as retailers put up their “sales” signs in order to reignite demand.
Dr Tim Denison, Head of Retail Intelligence at Ipsos Retail Performance, said: “In the current climate, I’m sure many retailers would settle for the level of footfall they experienced in June. As predicted in the previous month’s RTI forecast, the Jubilee week, with many people electing to take the whole week off, resulted in footfall of 5.5 percent above levels for the same week of 2011.”
“Figures from PwC suggest that slightly more stores were holding sales, with 73 percent of retailers selling goods at sale prices at the end of June compared to 70 percent last year,” explains Dr Denison.
“As a consequence, the week commencing the June 24 was the second busiest of the year so far (after Easter), and only marginally down (-1.4 percent) on the corresponding week of 2011. In the Midlands, footfall flourished beyond elsewhere, registering a 0.8 percent increase on 2011 for the week.”
“The summer sales have started strongly, but July’s footfall will be conditioned by how engaged shoppers remain with the deals and how much stock retailers have to shift. With the poor summer weather, there is some hope that sales will help shift summer merchandise.”
“The economy remains disappointing, and with global uncertainties rising again, consumer confidence remains very low. Events of the summer may help to energise shoppers over the odd few weeks, particularly if the weather improves, but it's going to take genuine economic growth to shift sentiment and belief in personal finance improvements. Unfortunately, there is little sign of this yet.”
London 2012 is the next major UK event set to positively impact on footfall for retailers. However, Ipsos Retail identified that the outlook remains fairly bleak as economic conditions have remained largely unchanged and while inflation has eased (CPI +2.8 percent), it is still above average earnings (+1.9 percent).