Experian FootFall: Can Retailers Extend Black Friday Weekend Momentum?

Retail Analytics Company Warns of Potential Early December Sales and Foot Traffic Decline

New York, N.Y. – Following a hugely successful Black Friday weekend for retailers, Experian FootFall, a market leading provider of retail shopper analytics, says the industry must have strategies in place to avoid the annual early December traffic and spending lull to assure a successful 2012 holiday shopping season.

Beginning on Thanksgiving Day and essentially stretching through Cyber Monday, Black Friday weekend accounted for billions of dollars of retail spending, posting an increase compared to 2011. As anticipated by FootFall, the significant increase of early openings and promotions on Thanksgiving Day enticed consumers to spend early, successfully expanding Black Friday to a nearly two-day event. This momentum continued through the weekend into Cyber Monday translating into a very solid five-day start to the holiday season. While this beginning should be encouraging, FootFall says retailers need to continue employing the same strategies that enticed consumers to spend during Black Friday over the next three weeks – a period the company says annually slows down during the holiday season.

“The holidays tend to have a familiar pattern that retailers know well, which is a robust start during Black Friday weekend, followed by two to three weeks of relative calmness, capped off by an equally robust end of the season with Super Saturday and procrastinating shoppers,” said Roseanne McCauley, vice president of the Americas for Experian FootFall. “Because the 2012 calendar shift provides the longest shopping season possible and two additional spending days, retailers need to be very cognizant of a consumer that might pause spending until very late in the season, potentially missing a huge opportunity for continued strong performance following Black Friday.”

According to McCauley, with a few simple steps, retailers can possibly lure consumers into brick and mortar store during this annual lull, potentially extending the energy of Black Friday weekend. Some of these steps include:

• Extended deep discounts offered during the Black Friday weekend and actively promoting them to consumers through social and traditional media.
• Analyzing traffic data to ensure labor is correctly scheduled during both peak periods to minimize customer frustration and walk aways and slower times to reduce the costs associated with overstaffing.
• Reviewing historical data to determine store performance during the 2007 holiday season, a year that had the same calendar effect as 2012. By doing so retailers can determine the weakest performing days and create promotions to drive spending during these times.
• If it hasn’t already been done, it’s never too late to start a baseline to review store performance and traffic data, then utilizing this baseline to predict a pattern and maximize profits throughout a chain of stores.

“The truth is, due to the importance of the holiday shopping season, winning retailers reviewed all facets of store performance, especially historical traffic and sales data, as early as January and most likely had these strategies in place months in advance to assure success and a year in the black,” McCauley said.

For Experian FootFall, accurate people counting is just the start. The company’s leading-edge reporting and analytics platform integrates cost, labor, sales and traffic data to deliver actionable intelligence to improve store performance. The web-based system gives anywhere, anytime access, with alerts when performance crosses preset thresholds.

For information on Experian FootFall products and services, please visit the company’s website or booth number 2264 at NRF 2013, January 13-16.

About Experian FootFall

Experian FootFall is a market leading provider of visitor analytics. We enable our clients to understand site-related consumer behavior in order to increase profitability and enhance customer service. Our solutions provide accurate insight for our customers which drives site performance and efficiency in areas such as increasing conversion rates, optimizing staff resource levels and maximizing shopper transaction value.

Part of the Experian Group, FootFall is the world’s largest and most experienced provider of audited, managed and advanced retail intelligence based on measured visitor behavior.

About Experian

Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2012 was US$4.5 billion. Experian employs approximately 17,000 people in 44 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.