Essential Trends BID Market Intelligence

Transcription

1 Essential Trends BID Market Intelligence Issue 77 February 2017

2 Introduction Welcome to our February edition of Essential Trends. Following on from the exceptionally busy Christmas and Hogmanay period in the city centre it is pleasing to note that both footfall and retail sales have performed strongly. January is traditionally one of the quietest months in the city and not surprisingly all figures show a significant drop from December However, in comparison to January 2016 we show a small improvement year on year of 4.4% in footfall and 0.3% for retail sales, outperforming the Scottish and UK figures in both instances. For the first time in many months our hospitality sector has reported a small decrease in year on year sales for January, possibly a reflection on the success and excesses shown over the festive period! Edinburgh Footfall Index January 2017 Edinburgh footfall figures for January 2017 are up by 4.4% compared to January 2016, but decreased by 35.4% compared to the December The UK average decreased year on year by 2.7% and also decreased by 22.5% compared to the previous month. Princes Street at Marks & Spencer s was the busiest spot in the city centre with just under one million people counted during January 2017, the last month in which figures are available. This represents an increase of 11% on January Monthly pedestrian numbers in the city centre follow an annual trend. They increase to their highest level of the year in August and fall to the lowest monthly totals during January and February before starting to increase again over spring and into the summer months. Footfall on Princess Street decreased by 35.2% from December (the highest recorded month of the year) to January The tables below show footfall in the city centre and a breakdown by counter area. The daily information for the previous month is also presented in the charts. p3 Roddy Smith Chief Executive Contents 03 Footfall 11 Sales Monitors 13 Parking 16 Edinburgh Airport

3 Essential Trends January 2017 p5 The UK footfall Index shows a decrease of 22.5% between December 2016 and January 2017, and decreased by 2.7% compared to January Helen Dickinson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, commenting on the UK figures said: It was a fairly consistent picture across different retail locations; with the high street, which saw a modest bounceback the previous month, failing to draw in shoppers. January s sluggish non-food sales, which undoubtedly corresponded with the dip in footfall below last year, go some way to explaining these underwhelming figures. Stores bore the brunt of the sales slowdown; posting their deepest three-month decline on record as online was the preferred shopping channel for the month s clearance sales.

4 Essential Trends January 2017 p7

5 Essential Trends January 2017 p9 Day and night time pedestrian traffic in the Essential Edinburgh BID area In January 2017 annual comparable footfall was up by 4.3% in the BID area on last year, with footfall in the evening hours increasing the most. Compared to last year footfall within the city centre area has shown an overall increase in January 2017 across the three periods shown in the chart below: morning; core retail hours; and evening hours. The early morning period increased by 6.6% on last year. The core retail period increased by 3.0%, and the evening period increased the most by 11.1% on last year. The chart on page 9 shows the change in footfall over four different three hour periods. Around nine out of every ten visitors (89%) in the city centre are recorded over this 12 hour period. Much of the reason for the increase in footfall on last year came from the rise in visitors later in the day. In the time period after 5pm footfall increased by 11.1% on last year. The after 2pm time period increased by 2.2% The after 11am time period increased by 2.2% compared to last year and the morning period of 8am to 11am increased by 4.0%. Note: BID area = Month and Annual comparison includes counter locations: FCUK Fredrick Street; Jenners Rose Street; M&S Princes Street; Natwest George Street, Tiso Rose Street, and South St Andrew Street McDonalds.

6 Essential Trends January 2017 p11 Day and night time pedestrian traffic in the Essential Edinburgh BID area cont... Sales Monitors for January 2017 Edinburgh retail sales grew by 0.3% in January 2017 compared to January Retailers in Scotland s capital again outperformed retailers across Scotland as these businesses noted a contraction in turnover of 3.5% compared to January Meanwhile, UK retailers as a whole achieved softer turnover growth of 0.1% during the month compared to that recorded by Edinburgh retailers. Retailers participating in the Retail Monitoring Programme reported these figures for January The figures for Edinburgh are based on a sample of city centre retailers. The figures for Scotland and the UK were reported from the BRC Scottish Retail Sales Monitor and BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor, respectively. Hospitality businesses that take part in the Hospitality Monitoring Programme reported a decrease of 2.2% in turnover in January 2017 compared to January 2016.

7 Essential Trends January 2017 p13 David Lonsdale, Director of the SRC, commenting on the Scottish figures said: These are somewhat dreich retail sales results for January, showing a dip of nearly 2% even when falling shop prices are taken into account. After the extravagances of the festive period, which saw solid sales growth in December, and indeed during the final few months of last year, shoppers were clearly keeping a firmer grip on purses and wallets in January, and focusing more on essential spending as lower footfall data for the period suggested. Grocery sales dwindled last month and non-food items fell back, even once increasingly popular online sales were factored in. In an otherwise drab overall set of figures, furniture, mobile phones and skincare products were among the better performers, as were grocery sales related to Burns Night and Chinese New Year. With the Chancellor s Spring Budget and commencement of the Brexit negotiations just a month or so away, Scotland s retailers will be looking for measures which help them keep down prices for consumers, and for the prioritising of tariff-free trade with the rest of the EU; especially on everyday staples such as food and clothing. The Scottish local authority elections are coming into view, and retailers are keen to see action which makes it easier and less costly to invest in our town centres and which improves footfall. In particular, more widespread use of local discretionary powers to reduce business rates and easier and more affordable parking for shoppers could help support struggling high streets. Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive, British Retail Consortium, commenting on the UK figures said: After a strong end to the Christmas trading, year on year sales growth ground to a halt, compensated only by stronger furniture sales and a boost for some retailers from Chinese New Year. While this may appear disappointing overall, retailers were up against a strong January last year to try and deliver a repeat performance and many reported an increase in the number of returns received in January. Looking across the last three months, we ve seen the slowest growth of the festive period since Closer inspection reveals that this was driven by slowing sales in non-food sectors. These figures suggest that caution was top of New Year shopping lists and the uptick in credit card lending at the end of the last year may be short lived. With the signs pointing to upward pressures on shop prices given rising import costs, all eyes will be on the impact of inflation on consumer spending. That said, retailers are a resilient and innovative bunch. They have become increasingly adept at responding to the challenging environment, and as a result the industry has been a key driver of recent UK productivity growth. You are sent this information before publication in Essential Trends if you agree to participate in the City Centre Monitoring Project. For more information about how to participate in the Tunover Monitoring Project please contact Tom Mathar, Research Manager at LJ Research, who manages this project on our behalf: Tom@ljresearch.co.uk or

8 Essential Trends January 2017 p15 January passenger figures show continued international growth Edinburgh Airport has today welcomed the latest passenger figures showing that January 2017 saw 781,753 passengers passing through the airport. This represents an 11.7% increase on January 2016 with the greatest growth area being passengers on international flights which had an 11.6% hike compared to the same month last year. Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport s Chief Executive, said: After a record-breaking 2016, it is fantastic that we start 2017 with strong figures. We are now seeing the impact of launching 27 international services in An 11.7% growth in figures on this time last year, makes it the busiest January ever for Edinburgh Airport. 781,753 passengers passed through Edinburgh Airport in January 2017 making it the busiest January for Edinburgh Airport on record (January 2016 was the next busiest January). In particular more people travelled with: Ryanair to Warsaw Modlin, Barcelona, Poznan, Bologna, Bratislava, Las Palmas and Palma de Mallorca. Warsaw launched in November 2016 and more flights operated to Barcelona. Poznan, Bologna, Bratislava, Palma and Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) all operated as summer only service last year, this year they will operate through the winter 16/17 season. easyjet to Venice, Reykjavik, Amsterdam, Paris CDG and Vienna. Vienna and Venice both launched in February 2016 and more flights operated to Amsterdam, Reykjavik, and Paris CDG. Jet2.com launched 13 new routes from Edinburgh over 2016 and the biggest increases in passenger numbers came from Alicante, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Fuerteventura all of which will operate through the winter season. Gordon Robertson, Director of Communications or gordon_robertson@edinburghairport.com

9 Essential Edinburgh 139 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JY t: +44 (0) Essential Edinburgh 2017 City of Edinburgh Council t: +44 (0) e: edinburgh.gov.uk/citycentremonitoring