Week-Over-Week NRSE Sales Slip 1.2 Percent

CHICAGO, IL, November 3, 2009 – ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate™ (NRSE) today reported that year-over-year GAFO retail sales declined 4.6 percent for the week ending October 31 while sales fell 1.2 percent versus the previous week ending October 24.

GAFO retail sales were slower than expected last week as cool weather in the East and the early season snow storm in the mountains and upper Midwest negatively impacted consumer spending.  Additionally, Halloween sales and promotions failed to provide a lift for retailers last week as the year-over-year and weekly comparison’s both showed  a decline.

This is an interesting time for retailers.  If the industry begins to promote for the holiday shopping season on a widespread basis, we expect to see a slight increase in sales moving forward,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak.  “However, if retailers wait for these promotions, sales will most likely remain sluggish over the next couple of weeks which is a pattern we typically see following Halloween weekend.”

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.

# # #