Euclid: July store traffic down, duration up

San Francisco – Shopper traffic declined 6% in July 2014 compared to the same month in 2013, due to real wage pressure, favorable summer weather, and a shift towards big-ticket item purchases, according to monthly benchmarks from in-store analytics provider Euclid.



Euclid analysis of tens of millions of U.S. shopper visits indicates a higher percentage of consumers made back-to-school purchases than the prior year and were very intent to buy, leading to the longest average duration seen in the last two years. Average duration increased 18% from last year. A higher percentage of shoppers made back-to-school purchases than the prior year and were very intent to buy, leading to the longest average duration seen in the last two years.



The best shopping day of July was Sunday the 27th. Outperformance was experienced across all metrics on the 27th, with especially favorable numbers for duration, engagement, and bounce rate. On the other hand, Friday the 11th was the worst shopping day of the month. Low traffic coupled with poor engagement marked this day and likely led to sales underperformance.



Looking ahead, Euclid predicts that the second half of 2014 looks promising for retail, estimating sales growth in the following retail verticals of:

• Two percent growth year-over-year in general merchandise, apparel, furniture and other (GAFO) retail sales.

• One percent growth year-over-year in clothing and apparel sales.

• One percent decline year-over-year in general merchandise sales.