Tracking report: U.K. holiday shopping accelerates

London -- An increasing number of U.K. consumers are spending more time at the nation’s shopping centers, according to a newly launched weekly statistic released Wednesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Path Intelligence.



This new statistic — known as the Path Index and illustrating that ICSC Research is broadening its shopping center tracking to Europe — melds shopping center footfall and the time spent per visitor into a shopper-hours index. For the week ending Dec. 9, 2012, the Path Index rose to its highest reading of the year so far, but was 5.1% below the same week of 2011.



According to ICSC president and CEO Michael P. Kercheval, the Index serves as an extremely timely window on shopping-center business performance. “The shopping center industry is leveraging more technology to better understand and quickly react to consumer needs,” Kercheval said.



The full historical data as well as weekly updates of the Path Index will be available to ICSC members at ICSC.org/research/edata.php.



The Path Index will be reported weekly on Wednesdays, according to the companies.