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High Street Experiences Worst January Since 2005
Listed under: News
Published: Thursday, February 04, 2010
The number of people shopping on the high street fell at its fastest rate in January, seeing footfall drop by approximately five percent over the course of the month, according to a new report from market research company, Synogate.
The findings, which attribute the drastic fall in footfall to the severe bad weather last month, as well as the rise in VAT, reveal that the number of shoppers on the high street dropped by as much as 30% nationally on January 6th, when the icy conditions were at their worst.
A seperate report from market research company, Experian, confirmed shopper numbers were down, revealing that companies in the North-East were particularly affected by the drop, seeing footfall decline by as much as 7.9% throughout the region.
Interestingly, businesses in the South-West and Wales appear to have been less impacted by the unpredictable climate, seeing the number of shoppers on the high street rise by as much as 2.6% in both areas.
Online sales also saw a drop in trade, with the number of visitors to shopping sites falling a whopping 19% between January and December alone.
Speaking to the Independent, Tim Denison, an analyst at Synovate, says, “The increase in the VAT rate at the start of January injected impetus into December's trading, but at the expense of this month's footfall. Though, in fact, prices have remained largely unchanged, with retailers taking the hit, consumers didn't take the chance and many decided to buy before the rise was imposed.”
Jonathan de Mello, director of retail property at Experian, agrees, telling the paper, “Undoubtedly, the cold weather played a major part, but the reintroduction of VAT at 17.5% also had a significant impact, in the same way that the lower rate had a positive effect on December footfall.”
Robin Goad, director of research at internet specialist company, Hitwise, added to the newspaper's report, highlighting the severity of the situation, “Although there is always a significant fall in online retail traffic after Christmas, this year the December to January decline was greater than usual.”
How was January for you this year? Email me your thoughts at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The findings, which attribute the drastic fall in footfall to the severe bad weather last month, as well as the rise in VAT, reveal that the number of shoppers on the high street dropped by as much as 30% nationally on January 6th, when the icy conditions were at their worst.
A seperate report from market research company, Experian, confirmed shopper numbers were down, revealing that companies in the North-East were particularly affected by the drop, seeing footfall decline by as much as 7.9% throughout the region.
Interestingly, businesses in the South-West and Wales appear to have been less impacted by the unpredictable climate, seeing the number of shoppers on the high street rise by as much as 2.6% in both areas.
Online sales also saw a drop in trade, with the number of visitors to shopping sites falling a whopping 19% between January and December alone.
Speaking to the Independent, Tim Denison, an analyst at Synovate, says, “The increase in the VAT rate at the start of January injected impetus into December's trading, but at the expense of this month's footfall. Though, in fact, prices have remained largely unchanged, with retailers taking the hit, consumers didn't take the chance and many decided to buy before the rise was imposed.”
Jonathan de Mello, director of retail property at Experian, agrees, telling the paper, “Undoubtedly, the cold weather played a major part, but the reintroduction of VAT at 17.5% also had a significant impact, in the same way that the lower rate had a positive effect on December footfall.”
Robin Goad, director of research at internet specialist company, Hitwise, added to the newspaper's report, highlighting the severity of the situation, “Although there is always a significant fall in online retail traffic after Christmas, this year the December to January decline was greater than usual.”
How was January for you this year? Email me your thoughts at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
