Study: Shopper activity slightly rebounds in Oct.

San Francisco -- Euclid, the leader of in-store retail analytics, today releases its monthly retail benchmarks report to analyze shopper activity and behavior during the month of October.



According to measurement of data from tens of millions of October shopping sessions from in-store retail analytics provider Euclid, traffic increased only marginally compared to the prior year, despite a much better macro-economic environment than the previous October, and repeat visits were down significantly.



Bounce rates increased to levels not seen for a year as many shoppers lacked intent. Euclid asserts that its metrics illustrate a cautious outlook for industry revenues, and estimates sales growth in the following retail verticals of:



• 5.7% decline year-over-year in general merchandise, apparel, furniture and other (GAFO) retail sales.

• 0.9% growth year-over-year in clothing and apparel sales.

• 2.7% decline year-over-year in general merchandise sales.



Other top findings include:

• Shopper traffic increased 3% compared to the same month the prior year, but this was predominantly driven by comparisons to the government shutdown period in 2013.

• Storefront conversion was up 2% year-over-year, benefitting from very robust Halloween shopping toward the end of the month.

• Bounce rate increased 1% from the previous year. October saw the worst bounce rate since November 2013, a negative sign for sales during the month.

• Repeat visits declined sharply after a rebound in September as many shoppers are waiting until the holiday season is in full swing to make return trips to the store.



The best shopping day of October was Sunday, Oct. 19. Outperformance was experienced across traffic, storefront conversion and visit duration. This day had the highest absolute duration for the month at 25.9 minutes.



On the other hand, Friday, Oct. 24 was the worst shopping day of the month. Low duration coupled with abnormally high bounce rates marked this day and likely led to sales underperformance. Generally, the middle of the month saw the best shopping days, while the end of the month saw a drop off in activity.