Holiday store traffic drops 15%, but that's not the whole story
Source: CNBC
Published: Wednesday, 8 Jan 2014 | 9:00 AM ET
By: Courtney Reagan | CNBC Retail Reporter
Americans may not have hit the malls in droves this holiday season, but those who did, spent.
According to ShopperTrak, foot traffic at the nation's retailers fell 14.6 percent this holiday season compared to the year prior, though in-store sales rose 2.7 percent in November and December. ShopperTrak had forecast that brick-and-mortar sales would rise 2.4 percent over the holiday season so their measure of $265.9 billion spent was more than expected.
ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin said growth in online shopping, and online browsing, means shoppers don't window shop in stores as much. Instead, they do it online. That's not necessarily a bad thing, according to Martin. In 2007, shoppers made an average of 4.5 to five store visits per shopping trip. Now, they average three to 3.5 stores, but they go with the intent to buy.
"The stores are benefiting from fewer people." Martin told CNBC. "There's an automatic improvement in shopper-to-associate ratio. The people in the store are in there to buy. The retailers are getting higher conversion rates and higher average transaction sizes."
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101317683
= new reply since forum marked as read
