One retailer’s loss is its customers’ gain. That is, according to Euclid Analytics.
The retail analytics company recently released its “US Retail Benchmark” report, which shows that to combat declining in-store traffic, brick-and-mortar stores are using aggressive promotional campaigns and retooling the in-store experience via omnichannel strategies. This has boosted engagement rates, though retailers are still struggling to maintain loyalty.
The report, which measures data on hundreds of millions of domestic shopping sessions between January and June of this year, suggests a moderately positive outlook for sales growth across all categories in the second half of 2015 due to increased economic gains from continued job growth, lower cost of living, and disposable income growth. Euclid also expects consumers’ willingness to spend to catch up with their increased disposable income in the latter half of the year.
Other findings include:
- As traffic continued to decline, retailers were able to drive greater storefront conversions while bolstering duration rates—the average visit duration time in-store increased by about four minutes from 2014.
- In June the bounce rate declined to a 12-month low of 6.5%—this indicates that retailers are actively engaging shoppers through relevant, timely assistance or enticing store layouts.
- Storefront conversion—the number of shoppers who enter a store as a percentage of the total foot traffic—rose over the last six months to 9% from 8.5% last year.
- In the first six months loyalty from active repeat customers totaled 11.7% of total visits measured—a decline from 12.8% during the same time last year.
“The continued erosion of in-store traffic has been raising alarms among every brick-and-mortar retailer,” said Brent Franson, CEO at Euclid Analytics. “We’re seeing hopeful signs that retailers are starting to counter this declining trend and making every in-store visit count. That said, the unexpected poor showing in June also demonstrates that retailers are not yet out of the woods. Ultimately, retailers must boost their loyalty metrics and win the hearts and wallets of the mobile-savvy shopper.”
According to the report, the best shopping month of Q1 and Q2 2015 was April (also the only month where traffic grew YoY—7.6%); the best shopping day of that period was Monday, April 6. Storefront conversion also hit a high for 2015—9.5%—as promotional activities successfully attracted value-conscious consumers.
