Mixed messages from Jubilee trade
Highs and lows of spending over four day weekend revealed
June 16 2002
Trading figures for the four day Golden Jubilee holiday weekend hold a few surprises for retailers.
Shopping traffic analyst Solution Products Systems Ltd has found predictions of a second Easter for retail over the extended weekend of June 1 – 4 were somewhat wide of the mark.
Saturday, normally the busiest day of the week, saw traffic levels 8 per cent below the quarterly average, with Sunday down 12 per cent compared to normal traffic flows. The double Bank Holiday on Monday and Tuesday saw the trend reversed. Between them, the two weekdays normally account for approximately the same retail traffic as a Saturday. For those stores that opened, their combined traffic was 22 per higher than the quarterly average.
The combination of the two opposing trends left traffic volumes only marginally higher, at 1.7 per cent, over the four days.
Comparing like-for likes with Easter, when most retailers closed on Easter Sunday, traffic flows from Saturday through to Tuesday were 13 per cent down. Even with Sunday’s figures, the Jubilee weekend was 2 per cent lower. Monday was not nearly as busy as Easter Monday, when traffic was 14 per cent higher across the UK.
Dr Tim Denison, director of knowledge management at Solution Products Systems said: “It was always going to be difficult for retailers to predict demand levels over this bank holiday weekend. No-one was certain if all or parts of the United Kingdom would be swept up in a wave of national celebrations or whether people’s shopping regimes would change.
“In the event the good weather on Saturday dissuaded some trips. On Sunday, the combination of the England v. Sweden football match and fine weather proved a more forceful deterrent, at least in England. This was particularly apparent for retailers in the regional shopping centres such as Bluewater and Meadowhall, where traffic flows were 20 per cent below the norm, but, as elsewhere, the lost ground was made up on Monday and Tuesday.
“Only London appears to have had a quieter bank holiday weekend for retailers across the board, hardly surprising given it was at the heart of the celebrations for the Queen’s Jubilee.”
