Clever consumers finally hit high street to bag a bargain

News release

Contact:
Bruno Rost
Press Relations Manager, Business Strategies
+44 (0)115 96 85009 Tel
bruno.rost@uk.experian.com Email

Clever consumers finally hit high street to Bag a bargain

Retail FootFall Index - UK National (w/c 31 December)
Week-on-week (w/c 31 December 2007 vs w/c 24 December 2007): -15.9%
Year-on-year (w/c 31 December 2007 vs w/c 1 January 2007): +0.7%

Department Store Index

Week-on-week (w/c 31 December 2007 vs w/c 24 December 2007): -30.1%

Year-on-year (w/c 31 December 2007 vs w/c 1 January 2007): +4.6%

Nottingham, UK, 8 January 2008 - Having tactically held back from the High Street during the all-important pre-Christmas period, Britain’s savvy shoppers were out in force last week, looking to grab a bargain amid the reams of deals and discounts available, according to the latest figures from Experian^® company FootFall.

Following in the footsteps of last week, which saw a year-on-year increase in shopping visitors of 2.3%, the first recorded increase during the month of December, the latest figures from the Retail FootFall Index (RFI) for the first week in January 2008 show an increase of 0.7% on the same period last year.

Illustrating how shoppers are continually adopting the ‘one stop for all’ culture, choosing to bag as many bargains as possible under one roof, the Department Store Index also shows an increase in visitors to department stores of 4.6% compared to the same week last year.

Martin Davies from Experian comments:  ““Although the figures may initially suggest positive news for retailers, they may actually be losing potential profits because they have had to introduce sales and discounts in order to attract shoppers.

“Interestingly, while all of the pre-Christmas RFI figures showed drops in footfall, both of the last two weeks showed substantial increases.  This supports the view that Britain is increasingly becoming a nation of savvy shoppers who are prepared to hold out during the Christmas period in the knowledge that retailers will have no choice but to discount heavily.  Thus it would seem that in this year’s longwinded stand-off between retailers and shoppers in the battle for a bargain, it is consumers who have won.”

“As people begin to slowly drift back to work and the first January credit card bills start to arrive, however, it will be interesting to see how long the sales can sustain shopper’s attention for.  It may suddenly become January blues for UK retailers.”

-Ends-
 

Notes to Editors
Please note, all information presented in this press release and references to the Retail FootFall Index (RFI) is owned by FootFall, an Experian company.  By issuing this release, FootFall is allowing the use of this statistical information in either printed, spoken or written format. However, the source of this information must be attributed to FootFall Limited, an Experian company, and the use of statistics to the Retail FootFall Index.

The Retail FootFall Index is endorsed by the BCSC, the membership organisation that represents the retail property industry, and, as such, is regarded as representative of UK shopping habits.  The RFI now measures over 150 million shopper visits per month in over 200 retail centres throughout the UK, covering more than 12,000 retail outlets.  Over 80% of the UK's population is contained within the catchment area of the basket of centres from which the RFI is produced.

The word 'Experian' is a registered trademark in the EU and other countries and is owned by Experian Ltd and/or its associated companies.

About Experian’s Business Strategies division
FootFall is part Experian’s Business Strategies division, one of the UK's leading economic forecasters, and is a world leader in the provision of retail business information to the retail and retail property markets. The Business Strategies division provides an understanding of consumers, markets and economies in the UK and around the world, past, present and future. Its focus is consumer profiling and market segmentation, retail property analysis, economic forecasting and public policy research, supporting businesses, policy makers and investors in making tactical and strategic decisions. As part of the Experian group, it has access to a wealth of research data and innovative software solutions.

The division’s economic research team is devoted to analysing national, regional and local economies for a range of public and private sector clients. Its statisticians, econometricians, sociologists, geographers, market researchers and economists carry out extensive research into the underlying drivers of social, economic and market change.