December 28, 2024 • 8 mins
Diane Wehrle CEO at Rendle Intelligence and Insights joins Simon for their monthly chat about footfall trends and shopping behaviours. They cover:
- Footfall trends from October to November 2024
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Productivity Podcast.
We're one episode away from thebig one and Diane Wirl, Head of
Insights at Rental Intelligenceand Founder, joins me for our
chat around footfall andbehaviours from October to
November.
So not far from the big one,Diane.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
No, no.
We're eagerly awaiting whathappens in December.
So, yeah, it's another year,can't believe that?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
know, I know plenty happened and same old things.
Weather's not been great andwe've not had a summer, and it
feels like you could almost putthat on loop for for every time,
doesn't it?
Nights are too dark.
Be nice when it's lighter.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
All those things all those great british um,
conversations about the weather.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So how are we faring then?
We're uh we're turning into thechoppy waters that are
post-budget Christmas.
I think this one's got a bit ofBlack Friday in and out and
then we're there, aren't we atthe next episodes?
All on Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
We are and I don't want to give too much away
because we're actually recordingthis in December.
So I've had some results forDecember but I'm not going to do
too much about that.
But we are going to talkNovember, and November included
Black Friday.
As you said, it was right atthe end of the month, so it
landed on payday for many, whichreally helped this year, and
we're comparing the 29th ofNovember with the 24th of
November last year, so that wasa week before payday last year
(01:17):
and actually Black Friday wasrecognised as being successful,
which really helped the month asa whole.
Sales and this is sales in townand city centres were 1% up in
November versus November 2023.
It doesn't sound a lot, but insubsequent months we've had
decreases in sales in everymonth since March.
(01:38):
So it is a real turnaround andactually across the board,
there's 10 sectors, 10 retailcategories, real turnaround and
actually across the board,there's 10 sectors, 10 retail
categories and all of those sawan increase in sales, virtually
apart from fashion, which saw a3.2% drop year on year in
November.
So clearly the drag on totalsales from fashion is continuing
.
People just are holding back onbuying fashion.
(02:02):
Footfall, which is a goodindicator of what's happening
was 4.5% down, but that didn'tinclude Black Friday.
Due to the reporting period forfootfall, it didn't include the
Black Friday week.
So there are alwayscomplications around the data
sets, as you know.
But generally this is sales intowns and city centres, as
(02:23):
reported by Beauclair, which isreally helpful because, as I
said, we look at the differentsectors and we can look at the
different metrics as well, andthat has revealed some
interesting findings.
The increase of 1% wasn't dueto more transactions, wasn't due
to more customers.
It was wholly due to anincrease in the average
transaction value in November.
So those people who were buyingare spending more, but fewer
(02:44):
people are buying, which I thinkplays along with the fact that
consumer confidence remains low.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And this comes back to some of the stuff we've
talked about before, ofattracting new customers really
tricky.
It's selling more to the same.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It is those people who have cash are spending, but
more and more people don't haveenough cash to spend, um, and so
that pool of spending isactually decreasing.
The circle's getting smaller.
So upsell in store really,really important and the.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
The fashion stuff is that I always kind of see as I
walk through the high street orshopping centers.
Now they've got the partydresses out and the you know the
suave stuff for the guys.
But Christmas, christmasparties is that still a big
thing?
Or is that some of thechallenge with the decline in
terms of it's not a big thinganymore?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
yeah, I mean, there's real mixed messaging around
that, isn't there?
Um, a lot of companies aren'tholding these big Christmas
bashes anymore because peopleare working at home so much.
Um, but, um, then you hearabout people who are having
Christmas bashes anymore becausepeople are working at home so
much, but then you hear aboutpeople who are having Christmas
bashes.
And will retailers not sellglitter at Christmas?
I doubt that very much.
So they will continue to dothat, but I think that number of
(03:58):
people who will buy that aredecreasing and people are just
becoming much more casual, muchmore flexible around their
wardrobe, so it's lovely to seein the windows.
I certainly haven't bought anyglitter or sequins this year and
haven't done for a number ofyears me neither well, I'm sort
of glad to hear that, to behonest.
Well, that'd be interesting tosee yeah, well but you know, I
(04:20):
think that formality has reallyshrunk actually and, um, we
haven't started to wear thosetypes of outfits for anything
else.
So, whilst it's lovely to see,I'm not sure they're selling
that well.
So we'll see in the sales.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
So Black Friday then I know it's kind of in and out
of some of the figures, but forthe ones that it's in looks
fantastic, looks good orpositive really good, really
positive, and I think this iscoming from the fact that people
wanted to buy early to securethose discounts.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
You know it landed on payday.
People had the money to spend.
They knew that.
You know things were lower thancost than perhaps they were in
october.
Yes, they may not be truebargains, as people say.
You may be able to get thatdiscount and better discount
earlier in the year, but peopledon't have the budget in april
to buy christmas presents.
You know they have to wait forwhen they have the budget.
So, um, they will have boughtearly on that day and it is does
(05:12):
launch christmas trading forconsumers.
You know that's the all.
The christmas lights are up, um, and you know it's a friday, so
people regard it as a bit of akickstart into the christmas
period but that may mean thatwe've just pulled those sales
forward yeah, and I don't wantto, you know, steal my own
thunder for next month becausewe want something to talk about
on our podcast for next month,don't we?
(05:33):
but?
Um, the early indications arethat is exactly what's happened,
and even to a bigger degreethis year than previous years.
Um, and it's reallydisappointing.
I mean, I was alwaysforecasting a cautious christmas
.
Um, and it's reallydisappointing.
I mean, I was alwaysforecasting a cautious christmas
, um, and it's seeming that isstarting to pan out, but let's
not talk about it, because Iwant something to talk about,
indeed, indeed so but any otherinsights from um the october to
(05:56):
november period that are worthsharing well, inflation, of
course, as we know, went up.
That didn't help, and that wasdriven by a lot of increase in
food, so that means that there'sless to spend on anything else,
quite frankly.
So it's tricky for people,people finding it really tough.
(06:17):
Consumer confidence increasedvery marginally.
So whilst we're over theinitial hurdle of the jitters
around election, post-election,pre-budget, post-budget, people
aren't feeling particularlyconfident still, and that just
plays into not really going madin spending terms.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
So we're saving for a rainy day, which some would
argue is a good thing, but thatclearly has a detrimental effect
, then, on the immediate economyand the immediate um
environment absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I mean people.
You know the savings ratio ishigh it's 10 which means that
people are stashing money away,which is good in a way that
they'll hopefully have somemoney for 2025, but it may not
help the christmas tradingperiod very much at all.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, okay, so again we won't step on those toes.
No, and November weather wasaverage for.
November, I think, wasn't it.
There wasn't any particularlybig storms or things that
happened.
That was more for December'schat.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Did we have storm Bert, or was that December?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Borderline, but there wasn't anything other than
Black Friday.
There wasn't anything abnormalor outrageous that happened that
would, um, that would influence.
It was a as average as youcould get, I suspect yeah, yeah,
pretty much average.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
You know, dark, rainy cold yeah, welcome to november.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Good, so we'll pause there.
Next one we'll get into thenitty-gritty of christmas.
What that looked like and didand didn't and I think that
there's probably peoplelistening will expect really
sets us up for 2025.
Then doesn't it of how that'sgoing to pan out, because I
think for lots of organisations,with the costs that are coming
down track 1st of April,christmas is more than ever
(07:59):
going to be for some make orbreak.
So, yeah, let's see how thatpans out.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Let's hope the weather's kind to everybody and
everybody has an amazing timewith their friends and family.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah, wishing everyone a fabulous christmas.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Lovely thanks, die.
I'll catch you soon.
Thanks, take care.
Welcome to the Productivity Podcast.
We're one episode away from thebig one and Diane Wirl, Head of
Insights at Rental Intelligenceand Founder, joins me for our
chat around footfall andbehaviours from October to
November.
So not far from the big one,Diane.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
No, no.
We're eagerly awaiting whathappens in December.
So, yeah, it's another year,can't believe that?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
know, I know plenty happened and same old things.
Weather's not been great andwe've not had a summer, and it
feels like you could almost putthat on loop for for every time,
doesn't it?
Nights are too dark.
Be nice when it's lighter.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
All those things all those great british um,
conversations about the weather.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So how are we faring then?
We're uh we're turning into thechoppy waters that are
post-budget Christmas.
I think this one's got a bit ofBlack Friday in and out and
then we're there, aren't we atthe next episodes?
All on Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
We are and I don't want to give too much away
because we're actually recordingthis in December.
So I've had some results forDecember but I'm not going to do
too much about that.
But we are going to talkNovember, and November included
Black Friday.
As you said, it was right atthe end of the month, so it
landed on payday for many, whichreally helped this year, and
we're comparing the 29th ofNovember with the 24th of
November last year, so that wasa week before payday last year
(01:17):
and actually Black Friday wasrecognised as being successful,
which really helped the month asa whole.
Sales and this is sales in townand city centres were 1% up in
November versus November 2023.
It doesn't sound a lot, but insubsequent months we've had
decreases in sales in everymonth since March.
(01:38):
So it is a real turnaround andactually across the board,
there's 10 sectors, 10 retailcategories, real turnaround and
actually across the board,there's 10 sectors, 10 retail
categories and all of those sawan increase in sales, virtually
apart from fashion, which saw a3.2% drop year on year in
November.
So clearly the drag on totalsales from fashion is continuing
.
People just are holding back onbuying fashion.
(02:02):
Footfall, which is a goodindicator of what's happening
was 4.5% down, but that didn'tinclude Black Friday.
Due to the reporting period forfootfall, it didn't include the
Black Friday week.
So there are alwayscomplications around the data
sets, as you know.
But generally this is sales intowns and city centres, as
(02:23):
reported by Beauclair, which isreally helpful because, as I
said, we look at the differentsectors and we can look at the
different metrics as well, andthat has revealed some
interesting findings.
The increase of 1% wasn't dueto more transactions, wasn't due
to more customers.
It was wholly due to anincrease in the average
transaction value in November.
So those people who were buyingare spending more, but fewer
(02:44):
people are buying, which I thinkplays along with the fact that
consumer confidence remains low.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And this comes back to some of the stuff we've
talked about before, ofattracting new customers really
tricky.
It's selling more to the same.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It is those people who have cash are spending, but
more and more people don't haveenough cash to spend, um, and so
that pool of spending isactually decreasing.
The circle's getting smaller.
So upsell in store really,really important and the.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
The fashion stuff is that I always kind of see as I
walk through the high street orshopping centers.
Now they've got the partydresses out and the you know the
suave stuff for the guys.
But Christmas, christmasparties is that still a big
thing?
Or is that some of thechallenge with the decline in
terms of it's not a big thinganymore?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
yeah, I mean, there's real mixed messaging around
that, isn't there?
Um, a lot of companies aren'tholding these big Christmas
bashes anymore because peopleare working at home so much.
Um, but, um, then you hearabout people who are having
Christmas bashes anymore becausepeople are working at home so
much, but then you hear aboutpeople who are having Christmas
bashes.
And will retailers not sellglitter at Christmas?
I doubt that very much.
So they will continue to dothat, but I think that number of
(03:58):
people who will buy that aredecreasing and people are just
becoming much more casual, muchmore flexible around their
wardrobe, so it's lovely to seein the windows.
I certainly haven't bought anyglitter or sequins this year and
haven't done for a number ofyears me neither well, I'm sort
of glad to hear that, to behonest.
Well, that'd be interesting tosee yeah, well but you know, I
(04:20):
think that formality has reallyshrunk actually and, um, we
haven't started to wear thosetypes of outfits for anything
else.
So, whilst it's lovely to see,I'm not sure they're selling
that well.
So we'll see in the sales.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
So Black Friday then I know it's kind of in and out
of some of the figures, but forthe ones that it's in looks
fantastic, looks good orpositive really good, really
positive, and I think this iscoming from the fact that people
wanted to buy early to securethose discounts.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
You know it landed on payday.
People had the money to spend.
They knew that.
You know things were lower thancost than perhaps they were in
october.
Yes, they may not be truebargains, as people say.
You may be able to get thatdiscount and better discount
earlier in the year, but peopledon't have the budget in april
to buy christmas presents.
You know they have to wait forwhen they have the budget.
So, um, they will have boughtearly on that day and it is does
(05:12):
launch christmas trading forconsumers.
You know that's the all.
The christmas lights are up, um, and you know it's a friday, so
people regard it as a bit of akickstart into the christmas
period but that may mean thatwe've just pulled those sales
forward yeah, and I don't wantto, you know, steal my own
thunder for next month becausewe want something to talk about
on our podcast for next month,don't we?
(05:33):
but?
Um, the early indications arethat is exactly what's happened,
and even to a bigger degreethis year than previous years.
Um, and it's reallydisappointing.
I mean, I was alwaysforecasting a cautious christmas
.
Um, and it's reallydisappointing.
I mean, I was alwaysforecasting a cautious christmas
, um, and it's seeming that isstarting to pan out, but let's
not talk about it, because Iwant something to talk about,
indeed, indeed so but any otherinsights from um the october to
(05:56):
november period that are worthsharing well, inflation, of
course, as we know, went up.
That didn't help, and that wasdriven by a lot of increase in
food, so that means that there'sless to spend on anything else,
quite frankly.
So it's tricky for people,people finding it really tough.
(06:17):
Consumer confidence increasedvery marginally.
So whilst we're over theinitial hurdle of the jitters
around election, post-election,pre-budget, post-budget, people
aren't feeling particularlyconfident still, and that just
plays into not really going madin spending terms.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
So we're saving for a rainy day, which some would
argue is a good thing, but thatclearly has a detrimental effect
, then, on the immediate economyand the immediate um
environment absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I mean people.
You know the savings ratio ishigh it's 10 which means that
people are stashing money away,which is good in a way that
they'll hopefully have somemoney for 2025, but it may not
help the christmas tradingperiod very much at all.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, okay, so again we won't step on those toes.
No, and November weather wasaverage for.
November, I think, wasn't it.
There wasn't any particularlybig storms or things that
happened.
That was more for December'schat.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Did we have storm Bert, or was that December?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Borderline, but there wasn't anything other than
Black Friday.
There wasn't anything abnormalor outrageous that happened that
would, um, that would influence.
It was a as average as youcould get, I suspect yeah, yeah,
pretty much average.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
You know, dark, rainy cold yeah, welcome to november.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Good, so we'll pause there.
Next one we'll get into thenitty-gritty of christmas.
What that looked like and didand didn't and I think that
there's probably peoplelistening will expect really
sets us up for 2025.
Then doesn't it of how that'sgoing to pan out, because I
think for lots of organisations,with the costs that are coming
down track 1st of April,christmas is more than ever
(07:59):
going to be for some make orbreak.
So, yeah, let's see how thatpans out.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Let's hope the weather's kind to everybody and
everybody has an amazing timewith their friends and family.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah, wishing everyone a fabulous christmas.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Lovely thanks, die.
I'll catch you soon.
Thanks, take care.
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