ShopperTrak: April 2013

Total U.S. Shopper Traffic in Retail Stores and Malls for April 2013

An expected post-Easter decline in shopper activity was compounded by unseasonably cold weather last month. Retail foot traffic decreased 10.1 percent in April compared to March 2013, deviating from previous positive month-over-month retail traffic trends. Foot traffic for April 2013 decreased 0.4 percent compared to the same month in 2012.

Easter — and all the shopping that goes with it — often falls in the month of April. This year, however, the holiday was in March. Considering the lack of Easter retail activity in April 2013, this year’s shopper traffic results were stronger than last year’s results. On a year-over-year basis, shopper traffic for April declined a very small amount.

April showers of both rain and snow continued the pattern of unseasonably cool spring weather. Snow and heavy rains east of the Rocky Mountains prevented many consumers from venturing out into the blizzards and storms to shop. People in northern and eastern regions continued to wear their winter clothes postponing shopping trips for spring clothes and other seasonal merchandise.

“We believe that April 2013 could have outperformed April 2012’s shopper traffic activity if we had more seasonably warm weather,” said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak founder. “In May, we should see people fulfilling those postponed spring clothing and merchandises purchases as Memorial Day and summer approach.”

ShopperTrak's data and analyses in this article are based on counting billions of shoppers in more than 60,000 locations across 90 countries. ShopperTrak counts more retail foot traffic than any other company in the world. The retail technology company collects and analyzes anonymous foot traffic, queue times and shopper demographics to identify revenue opportunities. Find out more at http://www.shoppertrak.com.