RetailNext: September sales disappoint, but mall traffic improving

Brick-and-mortar sales metrics were below expectations in September, but not all was lost.



According to the September 2015 Retail Performance Pulse report from brick-and-mortar analytics firm RetailNext Inc., traffic declined at the lowest rate since January of this year.



Sales declined a disappointing 8.7% on a year-over-year basis, and transactions dropped 9.6%. Sales per shoppers dipped 0.5%. In some good news, average transaction value increased 1.1%, although returns also edged up 0.1%. And while traffic declined 8.1%, this was down significantly from traffic declines of 9.9% in August and 11% in July, and the smallest decline in eight months.



“The reduction in traffic decline is exciting,” said Shelley E. Kohan, VP of retail consulting at RetailNext, in an interview with Chain Store Age. “The extended warm weather lasting well into the month and hurricane warnings on the East Coast at the end of the month helped keep sales down despite improvements in traffic.”



Kohan said back-to-school sales lasted in to September, making the first two weeks of the month stronger for sales and traffic than the last two weeks.



“In the second week there was virtually flat store traffic,” said Kohan. “We haven’t seen that in a long time.”



Kohan said this pattern demonstrates a general change in the consumer mindset about shopping for events such as back to school.



“Consumers are no longer driven by a specific timeline for events,” she commented.



The fourth week of September was especially difficult for brick-and-mortar retailers, with conversions falling 1.4% and average transaction value falling 6.2%. Kohan said retailers not differentiating their products enough for customers who may have been coming to stores looking for specific items related to hurricane weather on the East Coast may be partly to blame.



Looking ahead to the upcoming holiday season, Kohan had a few tips for brick-and-mortar retailers.



“Consumers are now channel-agnostic and shop across different devices,” said Kohan. “You can take online learnings and assess trends more quickly and push them forward into your brick-and-mortar business. If you notice a surge in online searches for Christmas tree sweaters, you can place them at the front of your store and adjust pricing and staff training to maximize on the consumer interest.”



In addition, Kohan said retailers need to change how they promote Thanksgiving.



“Thanksgiving is no longer a one- or two-day event,” said Kohan. “The customer has reinvented it so it is now a five-day event. Stores need to have five-day promotional plans, not promotional plans for a weekend.”