Page 27 - HW1221

Black Friday shopping down on pre-pandemic levels
UK mandates
EV charging to be built-in
With the UK Government now aiming to ban the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2030 (10 years earlier than planned), it is also ramping up domestic and public infrastructure to ensure EVs can be charged...
Take November’s surprise legislation which says that all new UK homes and commercial buildings like supermarkets and workplaces, as well as “those undergoing major renovation”, will be required to install electric vehicle charge points from next year.
As well as new homes and non-residential buildings, premises undergoing largescale renovations leaving them with 10+ parking spaces (presumably including small retailers) will also be required to install electric vehicle charge points.
As a result, says the Government,
up to 145,000 extra charge points
will be installed across England each year, on top of the 250,000+ home
and workplace charge points the Government has already supported to date, thus making it “as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car today.”
By way of reaction commentators and political opposition, puts it that these measures will not really help spread
EV charging capabilities much beyond the south east of England, nor will they help make more affordable the electric vehicles Brits will need to be driving in eight or nine years’ time.
www.gov.uk
global eyes
ONLINE SPENDING IN the US on Black Friday 2021 was marginally negative, at US$8.9 billion, according to Adobe data, coming in at the lower end of Adobe’s predicted range and slightly less than the US$9 billion reported for Black Friday 2020.
It’s thought that this slight decline could well reflect a shift towards US consumers starting their peak season shopping earlier to take advantage of internet deals that kicked off as early as October.
As an aside, Adobe says that although some Black Friday shoppers were just browsing on their phones before buying at a computer (62.2% of all visits were from phones), mobile purchases still represented more than 44% of all online Black Friday sales, almost 11% up on 2020.
In terms of physical retail, according to Sensormatic, US shopper traffic data indicates that visits to stores on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday were down 28% compared to 2019 pre- pandemic levels.
With many retailers closed on Thanksgiving Day, like they did in 2020, visits to physical stores on November 25 were down over 90% compared to 2019.
Indeed, Sensormatic Solutions expects US in-store traffic for this year’s holiday season to be down between 10-15% compared to 2019.
However, the latest data also indicates that US consumers were prioritising in-store shopping this season to
avoid potential shipping delays, with Sensormatic’s 2021 foot traffic numbers showing a massive 47.5% increase compared to 2020.
“While in-store shopping is still not back to 2019 levels, more shoppers felt comfortable visiting stores in person this Black Friday than in 2020,” says Brian Field, Sensormatic’s Senior Director of Global Retail Consulting.
“One driver of this increased traffic could be ongoing supply chain challenges and shipping delays, which are resulting in consumers shopping earlier to ensure their gifts arrive on time.”
There was a similar picture for physical
retail in the UK, where the British Retail Consortium (BRC) is reporting Black Friday’s high street footfall as down 23.4% although still 35% higher than the previous November 2021 weekend.
Harsh weather towards the end of the November month and retailers making an early start to promotions seem to have encouraged UK punters as in the US to “bargain hunt over a prolonged period.”
Andy Sumpter, Retail Consultant EMEA for Sensormatic Solutions, says of the UK figures: “We saw a slight footfall falter in November, with shopper traffic taking a nominal dip on October’s figures.
“However, it’s worth remembering
that this is only the second time in the whole of 2021 that we’ve seen a monthly slowdown in the high street’s recovery, as consumer confidence continues to grow and the resurgence in bricks-and-mortar builds back, slowly but steadily.
“Usually, in November we’d expect to see a boost to the High Street due to Black Friday, which traditionally marks the start of Christmas spending.
“However, whilst we saw footfall rise by a third (+35%) week-on-week, shopper numbers on Black Friday were still down on pre-pandemic levels by about a fifth, which may be down to polarised flux in Christmas shopping behaviours we’re witnessing.
“Those who have bought early in a bid to avoid crowds and minimise risks of supply chain disruption have shopped even earlier this year, contributing to October’s boost and November’s lull.”
Sensormatic however still expects a boost from last minute shoppers hitting the UK’s high streets in December.
www.sensormatic.com
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DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022 | NZHJ 25