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Check it out regularly and keep up to date with what’s happening on the retail scene, and on occasions we add
our views. If you have comments or items of interest let us know via our contacts page.
Shopper numbers fall seven months in a row
2008 shopping visits showed a continued decline with year-on-year comparisons recording seven successive months of falling numbers.
Visitors to retail centres and shopping centres fell by 1.5 per cent this February compared with February 2007. The half term holiday produced a slight rise in visits but the temporary boost does not reverse the overall year-on-year decline and, given the current economic climate, it is probable that many recent visits were confined to browsing.
Martin Davies, Director of Retail Consultancy at Experian, commented: “The current seven month decline in shopper numbers has spanned all the main retail periods including the autumn and spring collections and Christmas in between. February's Experian Footfall Index brings little cheer to retailers and affirms how shopping trends are in the process of a fundamental shift driven by more sophisticated and price conscious consumers and the availability of new, different shopping channels and venues.
“Retailers are seeking to gain a better understanding of the intricacies of Britain's changing shopping behaviours as traditional triggers that encourage visitors to the high street are now far less influential.”
Commenting on the Experian FootFall Index for February, Jonathan Foster, retail analyst at Ernst and Young, said "After a better than expected discount driven January, February's poor figures underline the tough trading conditions for UK retailers. With little change in consumer sentiment in 2008, the sector outlook is gloomy, particularly for big ticket goods such as electricals and furniture - so we expect further profit warnings and casualties are inevitable.” 
Andrew Burrell, Chief UK Economist at Experian, added: “Despite the decline in shopper numbers, official figures for January show retail sales volumes were still 4.1 per cent higher than a year before. This is below last year's average, but still reasonably healthy, suggesting that consumers are choosing different purchasing channels than the high street.
“Recent surveys have been more mixed, with the BRC upbeat, and the CBI and GfK much less so. Consumer confidence slumped to a 13 year low in February in spite of good news on interest rates.
“The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut interest rates by a further 25 basis points in February to 5.25 per cent. Despite above-target inflation, we expect a further base rate cut in the first half of this year. There remains upside risk to inflation from oil and food prices, but this is balanced by the more pressing concerns about demand, notably in the retail sector where sales growth is forecast to decline to 2 per cent year-on-year by end-2008.”(extract from the Rretail Bbulitin)
Order Fulfilment and Retail Stock Services
At last! We have heard of a new service that will supply specialist Retail Stock Support Services. Warehousing, Stock dressing, Distribution, Promotional Item Distribution and On Line Sales Order Fulfilment. No long term commitment required services supplied on a seasonal or project basis when required. The warehouse is in central Scotland with access to all major routes. Contact The Retailer for further details.
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Spring Fair Buying Trip.
For some years now we have arranged The Spring Fair visit for a group of buyers. Many are our clients but not all. We have booked the hotel and transport to and from the event from the hotel. You do your own business during the day, and if you wish, enjoy the company of some very sociable colleagues in the evening. It all makes for a pleasurable visit to Birmingham.
.As always we had a great time,it was good to catch up with old and new friends. As always we put in the miles during the day at the show, howeve,r a light refreshment and some good company makes it all the more bearable.
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Glasgow is Best in Britain
Glasgow held on to its crown as top shopping location in the UK, according to the Venuescore retail rankings report. Manchester was second and Birmingham third. Edinburgh was fourth. The east coast can however boast Britain’s best retail park in Fort Kinnaird beating Lakside and Castlepoint in to second and third. Well done Scotland!
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The Scottish Retail Awards.
Did you miss the party? Oct 31st At the Hilton in Glasgow the great and the good of Scottish retail met up at the awards ceremony. The best of Scottish retail was recognised in those nominated and the category winners. If you did not enter this year make sure you do next year. The award is hugely prestigious and the party is great.See our Links page.
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Dumfries retail development to lead town revival
Urban regeneration company Centros Miller has joined forces with Dumfries and Galloway Council in Scotland to develop a retail-led scheme in Dumfries town centre.
Proposals for the 3.7 acre (1.5ha) site are at an early stage, but the scheme could measure up to about 200,000 sq ft (18,580 sq m). The site houses a car park and several commercial buildings.
The council’s rejuvenation strategy plan for the town centre identifies the Whitesands area, where the scheme will be located, as the priority regeneration site. The development is also likely to include mixed-use elements such as offices or residential space.
Centros Miller development manager Tony Williams said: “We have a major opportunity to improve the retail facilities in Dumfries and stem the flow of expenditure to competing locations like Carlisle and Glasgow."
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Toy Story
Baugur-owned Hamleys is thought to want to open two standalone stores initially, one in Scotland and the other in the Northwest, to add to its Regent Street store in London.
Debit Card Spending Roars Ahead as Credit Card Debt Continues To Fall
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Spending on debit cards continued to outstrip that on credit cards, cash and cheques last year, according to an industry report. The Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) said debit card spending rose a further 14% to#195bn.
There was only a slight increase in spending using credit cards, up to #126bn, and cash, which rose to #274bn.
However, the use of cheques continued to fall further, down# 22bn, or 12%, to #164bn.
"The last 10 years have seen a rapid rise in the popularity of plastic, with debit cards showing particularly strong growth," said Sandra Quinn of Apacs." Over the next 10years it is expected that spending on plastic cards will continue to dominate the payments arena, accounting for 89% of growth in UK payment volumes by 2016."Taken together, the various types of plastic cards accounted for nearly a third of all consumers spending last year. At #321bn that represented a three-fold rise in the past 10 years.
Convenience
The figures highlight the extent to which debit cards continue to soar in popularity while the use of credit cards and cash continues to stagnate, having reached a plateau in the past three years. Apacs said the trend was in line with its own expectations.” It’s due to the convenience and ease of use of debit cards - but it also indicates that consumers are being more responsible, by using their debit cards rather than credit cards," Apacs said. In the past year and a half, the amount of debt outstanding on credit cards has been falling. It reached a peak in January 2006 of #58.3bn, and has been falling slowly but steadily ever since. In May this year it stood at#53.8bn, as consumers reined in their borrowing.
Tourism boom as visitor numbers rise 6%
Scotland’s tourist attractions enjoyed a 6 per cent jump in visitor numbers last year to more than 45 million, according to official figures.
Tourism leaders said the increase was "encouraging" and helped the industry in its long-term efforts to boost revenues by 50 per cent by 2015.
Glasgow's refurbished Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum knocked Edinburgh Castle off the top spot of Scotland's busiest attractions for the first time - receiving 1.9 million visitors last year. It reopened in July 2006 following a £27 million, three-year refit .While these numbers are encouraging
The Retailers experience is that a lot of this increase is in the big centres and the outlying areas are not seeing visitors filtering out to them.
Edinburgh still snoozes as Glasgow steps up a gear.
While Edinburgh still debates what is needed. The best they seem to have come up with is the upgrading of a few buildings on Princes Street. We hear that two of glasgow's major shopping locations are once again expanding. Buchanan Galleries will submit an outline planning application to the city council to extend the scheme from 600,000 sq ft to 1.3 million sq ft (55,740 sq m to 120,770 sq m). And at the other end of the city centre, the St Enoch Centre has received full planning approval for its £100 million development, which will take the centre's retail and leisure space from 750,000 sq ft to more than 1 million sq ft (69,675 sq m to 92,900 sq m). So where all the new brands to Scotland going to head for, and with a bigger and better store selection where will the customers flock to? Let us guess.
