Member Article

January sales boost shopping centres visitors by 14%YOY

The January sales and extended retail discounting period boosted visitor numbers to UK shopping centres in the first two weeks in January, according to Coniq, a European marketing insight platform for shopping centres.

In spite of record levels of pre-Christmas discounting, which saw some retailers offering money off items from Black Friday right up to Christmas Day itself, consumers’ appetites to head into store and search out additional bargains weren’t dampened in the New Year. Visitor numbers to UK shoppers rose by 14% in the first two weeks of the year.

Revenue was up by 23% over the two week period, with the Fashion sector seeing the highest increase in revenue during the January sales (43%).

Ben Chesser, CEO at Coniq, commented: “With widely reported predictions around rising inflation in 2017, this increase in consumer spending in January may be attributed to shoppers wanting to make the most of the discounted offers before any price rises take effect later this year.”

“Consumer caution in the light of the economic uncertainty around Brexit will mean this year, more than ever before, shopping centres will need to closely monitor peaks and troughs in shopper traffic and use the insights from this data to work more closely with their tenants to ensure that customer interest is optimised via reward schemes and joint offers,” he concluded.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chelsea Reay .