Year-Over-Year Retail Sales Decline 2.5 Percent for Week Ending January 23
Week-Over-Week Sales Rise 4.5 Percent
CHICAGO, IL, January 26, 2010 – ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate™ (NRSE) today reported that year-over-year GAFO retail sales slipped 2.5 percent for the week ending January 23 while sales increased 4.5 percent versus the previous week ending January 16.
Week-over-week sales posted a moderate increase as consumers spent early in the week during the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday before shopping activity slowed dramatically until steadily rising again on Friday and Saturday. ShopperTrak reports this mid-week spending pause most likely caused the 2.5 percent year-over-year decline.
“Spending was in line with what we expected on Monday, but the rest of the week seemed to ebb and flow, with weekend sales most likely receiving a shot in the arm from more favorable weather in parts of the country,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. “We expect GAFO sales to decline this week and next before picking up again in mid-February for Valentine’s and President’s Day.”
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.
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