Shoppers stay home in run-up to festive season

Footfall was down 1.7 per cent last week compared with the same week in 2011, with customer numbers in shopping centres seeing the biggest slump, according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium.

Footfall in shopping centres fell by 4.9 per cent while high streets saw a 0.8 per cent fall. Out-of-town locations saw a 0.4 per cent decrease in shopper numbers.

Stephen Robertson, British Retail Consortium director general, said: “It’s disappointing to see that the number of shoppers out is down on the same week last year.

“Several factors are in play. People who haven’t got spare money aren’t shopping and cold weather, perhaps coupled with the media buzz around ‘Mega Monday’, may have motivated many to stay indoors and do shopping online rather than venturing out in freezing conditions.”

Mega Monday refers to the first Monday in December, traditionally the busiest day for online shopping.

He added that there was some good news – footfall edged up 2.3 per cent last week compared with the previous week.

“Though the increase is a baby step rather than a big leap, it at least demonstrates that momentum is building slowly but surely as we get into the final fortnight before Christmas,” he said

Compared with the previous week, footfall in shopping centres saw the biggest rise in footfall up 3.6 per cent on the previous week, followed by high streets (up 2.2 per cent) and out-of-town locations (up 0.9 per cent), according to Springboard, which supplied the figures.

Diane Wehrle, research director at Springboard, said: “Shopping centres have seen a greater increase in footfall this week than retail parks and the high street, which is to be expected as customers tend to gravitate towards the certainty they offer for Christmas shopping in terms of their greater breadth and depth together with weather protection.

“Despite this, the high street is faring well, with an improvement in the weekly increase from the same week in last year.”

She said the low year-on-year figures were affected by the larger than average annual increase last year due to the impact of snow in 2010.

“However, the week-on-week numbers reveal an increase in shoppers heading to the high street. I anticipate that the next two weeks will be the busiest for Christmas shopping,” she added.

The BRC-Springboard Retail Footfall Monitor gathers data on customer activity in town and city centre locations, and in out of town shopping locations, throughout the UK using the latest generation automated technology.

The monitor records 62 million footfall counts per week at over 500 different shopping locations in 152 towns and cities across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Another piece of research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) suggests that retailers stand to lose £1.7bn to competitors this Christmas due to lack of product availability.

CEBR claims that half of the main causes of product unavailability are within the retailers’ control: namely inaccurate demand planning, wrong retail channels mix and the lack of a holistic view of the business

Half of the retailers surveyed cited aging IT systems as their biggest challenge for order fulfilment this Christmas, while only seven per cent automate their entire order fulfilment process

Andy Lloyd, general manager of commerce products for NetSuite, which sponsored the research said: “Delivering an omnichannel retail experience is a key challenge for retailers as consumer shopping habits continue to shift, both in-store and online.

“Stock-outs in particular cost more than lost revenue or competitive advantage; they can tarnish a brand, especially over the highly emotionally charged festive season.

“Retailers need to take steps to avoid stock-outs wherever possible, and investing in improved demand planning is the best way to mitigate this risk”.

Looking ahead to 2013, almost three quarters (72 per cent) of retailers surveyed plan to invest in additional IT in the next 12 months, including online (59 per cent), mobile (45 per cent) and social commerce (38 per cent).

However, only around 30 per cent of retailers surveyed are looking to invest in demand planning software.

Colin Edwards, economist at CEBR, said: “The Christmas period represents the most lucrative revenue opportunity of the year for retailers, comprising one fifth of annual revenues on average.

“By investing in the right solutions, managers can enable their businesses to successfully compete with other retailers and capitalise on the potential revenues offered by Christmas”.

The findings are available for free download as part of NetSuite’s latest retail report The Christmas Gamble at www.thechristmasgamble.co.uk.