Total U.S. Foot Traffic Increases 3.5 Percent

CHICAGO, IL, January 6, 2010 – ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate™ (NRSE) today reported that year-over-year GAFO retail sales rose 15.3 percent for the week ending January 2 while the company’s retail traffic index (SRTI) reported total U.S. foot traffic increased 3.5 percent for the same period.

Both retail sales and traffic levels showed strong improvement last week compared to last year as consumers rushed to stores to redeem gift cards and take advantage of post-holiday sales.  Additionally, retailers continued to benefit from the pent up demand caused by inclement weather that slowed spending on Super Saturday weekend and ultimately boosted sales and traffic during the last two weeks of the season as value driven shoppers spent heavily. 

“The poor weather in the Northeast, East, and Midwest a couple of weeks ago really seemed to spark spending and drive traffic throughout the country towards the end of December,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak.  “Because of this, our data initially shows 2009 holiday season sales assuredly increased over the same period last year.”  Martin continued:  “At this point we don’t believe there’s any reason to adjust our forecast of a 1.6 percent sales rise with a 4.2 percent traffic decline but will know more next week when we complete our final analysis and announce full season data on Monday (January 11) from our booth (#325) at the NRF show.”

ShopperTrak additionally reported sales for the week ending January 2 declined an expected 27.5 percent versus the previous week ending December 26 as the spending frenzy leading up to Christmas came to a close.

For ShopperTrak’s full holiday 2009 analysis, please visit ShopperTrak’s newly designed Website, www.shoppertrak.com.   

Developed by ShopperTrak, the NRSE provides a nationwide benchmark of retail sales. It is derived from the U.S. Commerce Department's GAFO (general merchandise, apparel, furniture, sporting goods, electronics, hobby, books and other related store sales) statistic, as well as ShopperTrak's proprietary industry intelligence on shopper movement and sales statistics. This gives retailers, investors and policy makers the most accurate and timely information on consumer trends available today.

A privately held entity, ShopperTrak leverages 20 years of retail expertise to be the industry's authority for information and analysis of the movement of shoppers in retail environments. ShopperTrak's cutting-edge shopper tracking products and indices offer retail intelligence solutions that enable companies to better understand retail trends and the impact of store and staff performance on company revenues. With more than 50,000 units installed in the world's best known retail outlets and malls, the company's solutions also provide a proven means for retailers to gauge labor efficiencies, advertising and marketing efforts, store design and remodeling programs, merchandise changes, associate training programs, and other budget-intensive strategic initiatives. For more information visit http://www.shoppertrak.com.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The data contained within this news release is the property of ShopperTrak RCT Corporation and may be reprinted, published or broadcast, provided proper credit is given to the National Retail Sales Estimate (NRSE), the ShopperTrak Retail Traffic Index and ShopperTrak RCT Corporation as the supplier of the information. Please contact Aaron Martin at 312-943-9100 if you have any questions concerning the use of this data.