The holiday shopping season has officially begun – but the UK high street isn’t faring as well as it has done in recent years. Recently published Black Friday stats show that there’s in fact been a 3.6% fall in overall bricks and mortar footfall figures year-on-year: building on earlier reports that October was unusually quiet too (thanks to warmer weather, according to the BBC).
However, online sales have increased by 11.7% on last year. To really understand the current state of retail we need to take a closer look at the facts, away from the headlines, to get a more accurate overall picture. That’s why we have created an infographic outlining some interesting findings from the past few years by IC Real Estate.
For us, the key takeaway points are that online research clearly has a bearing on offline purchases and that retailers need to be more proactive in ensuring that both channels work together more effectively. Also, as retail stores shift towards a providing a showroom experience, leveraging footfall data to track purchases and create loyalty is going to be increasingly important too.
