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RetailNext Releases 2013 Spring Holiday
Shopping Data and Insights For Brick-and-Mortar Retail
Infographic Illustrates Findings Including
Late
Mother's Day Rush And 73% Memorial Day Traffic Spike
SAN JOSE, Calif., June 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/
-- It was an unusual spring for retail. Inclement weather
throughout much of the nation had merchants worried about
overall performance. But even with these conditions, there
were opportunities: high shopping days amid holidays and the
fact that the U.S.
consumer confidence index was nearing a five-year high.
So how did these factors impact activity in stores?
RetailNext Inc., the leader in
Applied Big Data for brick-and-mortar retail, studied 41
million shopping trips across more than 500 U.S. cities
between Easter and Father's Day. The Company released an
informative
infographic detailing retailer performance, consumer
shopping patterns, and the consequences of these patterns
for four key spring holidays.
Using its
in-store analytics platform to collect metrics on many
millions of shopping trips to department stores and
specialty retailers nationwide, RetailNext studied and
released its analysis of traffic, conversion, sales, and
average transaction values (ATV) for the spring season,
including four holidays:
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● Easter (Sunday, March 31st) |
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● Mother's Day
(Sunday, May 12th) |
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● Memorial Day (Monday, May
27th) |
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● Father's Day (Sunday, June
16th) |
In addition to Memorial Day, RetailNext
also identified the days leading up to Father's Day and
Easter Sunday as key periods for greater than average store
traffic for the spring season. Furthermore, RetailNext
revealed unique patterns around each of the four spring
holidays occurring during the time period. By providing a
more detailed model of shopping behavior around these
holidays than was previously available, this research can be
an asset for future seasonal planning.
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● Easter Week (3/24 – 3/30)
– The week preceding Easter saw a ramping uptick
in traffic over a typical week's pattern,
peaking on Friday, March 29, when shopper
traffic hit a whopping 47% increase over a
typical Friday. Easter Sunday itself saw sharp
declines in traffic and sales (off 29% and 8%,
respectively). |
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● Week of Mother's Day (5/5
– 5/11) – Sales lifted sharply on Thursday
through Saturday prior to Mother's Day, as
compared to a typical week. For these three
days, sales were up an average of 14% over
ordinary levels, suggesting that shoppers were
focused on last-minute Mother's Day purchases.
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● Week of Memorial Day
(5/26 – 6/1) – Not surprising, Memorial Day
itself saw a 73% increase in traffic and a 59%
increase in sales over a typical Monday.
However, traffic on the following Saturday
dropped 16%, compared to an average Saturday as
shoppers chose non-shopping activities coming
off the heavy retail period. This finding
reveals the opportunity for retailers to shift
non-essential activities away from the
"must-win" days of Memorial Day weekend to the
softer shopping weekend immediately to follow. |
● Week of Father's Day (6/9
– 6/15) –The week leading up to Father's Day
saw significant lift in traffic, conversion, and
sales, peaking on Friday with a 32% sales
increase over a typical Friday. This sustained
surge in sales indicates a clear mission among
shoppers seeking Father's Day gifts. Retailers
should note this trend in future years and
create plans to capitalize fully on these highly
motivated shoppers.
"The two drivers for changing shopping patterns
around holidays this spring were gift giving and
special events that changed when consumers hit
the stores. The increased activity leading up to
both Mother's Day and Father's Day represents a
genuine boost to retailers, although as with
previous studies, we've seen those seeking gifts
for women tend to shop later than those seeking
gifts for men," said Chitra Balasubramanian, VP
of Insights, RetailNext. "If you attribute much
of this uplift to people shopping for their
spouses, one possible explanation is that men
have a greater tendency than women to delay gift
shopping until right before the holiday." |
"The non-gifting holidays changed retail performance in a
different way," Balasubramanian went on to say. "By adding
or subtracting high-volume shopping days from the typical
week, patterns change not only on those days but on the days
surrounding them. For example, store closures and other
obligations on Easter Sunday drive shoppers into stores
earlier in the week. And Memorial Day has the opposite
effect, creating a retail trough the following weekend as
consumers who are 'all shopped out' choose other activities
instead."
Press seeking the file for the 2013 Spring Shopping Trends
infographic, which can be viewed at:
http://www.retailnext.net/uploads/press/RetailNext_Spring_Lookback_Infographic_2013.pdf
, should contact
pr@retailnext.net.
Contact:
Tim Callan
tim@retailnext.net |
