brc - springboard - fvm jan 2016 uk - springboard …/and/in/out …
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BRC/Springboard Footfall and Vacancies Monitor – January 2016 Covering the four weeks 03 January – 30 January 2016
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Strictly Embargoed until 00.01 hrs – Monday 15 February 2016
Best Overall Footfall Performance in Two Years
*Figures supplied by Springboard UK Summary
• Footfall in January was 1.2% up on a year ago, significantly above the 2.2% decline seen in December, and its best performance since January 2014, excluding Easter distortions.
• Footfall in retail park locations increased 5.2% year-‐on-‐year, its best performance for two years. This is well ahead of December’s 2.1% rise and above the 3-‐month average rate of 3.0%.
• High Streets reported their first rise in footfall since July 2013, excluding Easter distortions, and was significantly ahead of December’s 4.0% decline. Footfall growth in Shopping Centres was broadly flat in January, it best performance since January 2014.
• The national town centre vacancy rate was 8.7% in January 2016, down from the 9.1% rate reported in October 2015. This is the lowest reported rate since we began reporting the data in July 2011
Diane Wehrle, Marketing and Insights Director at Springboard, said: “The increase in footfall across all retail destination types, the first since December 2011, alongside the rise in spending in January, finally demonstrates what is well known -‐ that bricks and mortar shopping environments are still important to consumers. Tracking footfall across 450 individual locations since 2009 has shown that it is the post 5pm period that has been most resilient, with improvements in daytime footfall following on from an increase in activity in the evening. Spend on furniture, and hospitality, led the way, which potentially has longer-‐term benefits by increasing shoppers’ awareness of store offerings and driving up spend through longer dwell times and the “family effect” whereby the family shopping group typically increases transactions values. “The improved vacancy rate is an encouraging sign, but there needs to be caution about being too optimistic as evidence shows the driving force to be an increase in pop-‐ups and temporary lets in the run up to Christmas and which are still occupied. However, the rationale for pop-‐ups for many retailers is an exploration of whether there is an appetite for the brand in that location; and an increase in footfall may encourage the conversion of a proportion of these into permanent occupancy, so improving the vacancy position into the next quarter.” Helen Dickinson, BRC Chief Executive, said: “The improvement in shopper footfall witnessed in January provided a timely and welcome fillip to retailers at the start of the year, with retail parks once again recording a stellar performance. Indeed, this was the best overall footfall performance for two years, and well ahead of the 3-‐month average.
“The further reduction in the shop vacancy rate is encouraging, more so against a backdrop in which online retailing is becoming increasingly popular. However, the fact remains that one in every eleven retail premises in our town centres lies empty. The current business rates system, in which rates bills only ever seem to rise, is wholly inadequate to the task ahead and so it is imperative that the Chancellor capitalises on the conclusion of the review next month to introduce a system which flexes with economic conditions and leads to a substantially lower tax burden.”
UK Town Centre
Vacancy rate* Jan 2016
UK Total Retail Footfall*
% change year-on-year High
Street Retail Park
Shopping Centre
8.7% January 2016 1.2 0.2 5.2 0.0
Nov 15 – Jan 16 Average -‐1.1 -‐2.5 3.0 -‐1.6
BRC/Springboard Footfall and Vacancies Monitor – January 2016 Covering the four weeks 03 January – 30 January 2016
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COUNTRY and Region Footfall Analysis • Six regions/nations reported a rise in footfall in January, all of which outperformed the UK as a whole. This
is a marked improvement on December’s figures when all but one nation saw a decline.
• The best performing regions were the South West and North & Yorkshire, both of which reported their highest footfall rates since our series began in December 2012.
• Scotland recorded its second consecutive rise in footfall and its best performance since March 2015, and outperformed the UK for the second month in a row. Northern Ireland also reported an improvement in footfall, reporting its second best rise in the last twelve months. Wales had another disappointing month, reporting its third month of footfall decline.
• Four regions reported a vacancy rate below the UK average, with the East (5.4%) and Greater London
(6.0%) reporting the lowest rates. In contrast, the North and Yorkshire (11.5%), Wales (13.7%) and Northern Ireland (14.7%) experienced high levels of vacant shops.
Footfall % change year-on-year:
Country Analysis Footfall Vacancy
Rate
Weighted UK
average 1.2 8.7
Scotland 1.5 9.1
Northern Ireland 1.7 14.7
Wales -1.0 13.7
BRC/Springboard Footfall and Vacancies Monitor – January 2016 Covering the four weeks 03 January – 30 January 2016
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Notes to editors Footfall Measure 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 over 120 million footfall counts per week at over 1,492 counting locations in 411 different shopping sites in 254 towns and cities across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Monitor covers the main centres in each nation/region and a representative sample of secondary and smaller town centres. We only have data available for the regions covered in this release. The Monitor provides the only available broad-‐based measures of the footfall performance of town centre and out of town shopping locations in the UK. Starting with the Monitor published in November 2012, figures are weighted by an estimate of footfall by channel (high streets, out of town and shopping centres). Starting with December 2012, the country and region figures are also weighted by channel. Previous regional data is for the high street only. Vacancy Rates Springboard gathers vacancy rates in towns and cities via an online survey of town centre managers in 450 locations throughout the UK. The vacancy rate is defined as the percentage of the ground floor units in the town centre that are vacant, and a vacant unit is regarded as one which is not trading at the time of the survey (whether or not it is let). Starting with the Monitor published in November 2012, vacancy rate figures are weighted by an estimate of regional retail sales. Media Enquiries British Retail Consortium 21 Dartmouth Street London SW1H 9BP 020 7854 8900 www.brc.org.uk
Media: 0207 854 8924 [email protected]
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Rain Communications 7 Heddon Street London W1B 4BE www.raincommunications.co.uk [email protected] Mob: 07876225893 [email protected] Mob: 07791106825
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is the UK's leading retail trade association. It represents the full range of retailers, large and small, multiples and independents, food and non-‐food, online and store based.
Springboard is a leading provider of automated customer counting services, delivering solutions across the entire range of customer generating environments: high streets, shopping centres, retail parks, conference, leisure and entertainment venues, transport interchanges.