Brick-and-Mortar Stores See Sales Slump in January

The New Year didn’t start out well for brick and mortar retail stores across the United States. Sales declined 7.0 percent year over year combined with a 4.4 percent drop in traffic. The numbers mark the fourth time in six months sales numbers dropped quicker than those for traffic.

The latest Retail Performance Pulse Year over Year Report for January from RetailNext also saw a decrease in average transaction value, and resulting year over year decline in shopper yield further drove sales declines.

On a positive note, the decline in transactions was the lowest it’s been for the last six months at 3.4 percent.

RetailNext Retail Performance Pulse January 2018

High and Low Days

The last week was the best in January for brick-ad mortar stores with CVR spiking on January 25, and Shopper Yield peaking on January 26 and January 27, marking the best days for transactions, sales, traffic and ATV. The middle of the month marked the low days for traffic (January 16) and sales (January 17).

Regional Declines

Regionally, things weren’t much better.  Northeast sales dropped 11.7 percent and traffic declined 7.7 percent year over year.   January 2018 saw drops in ATV at 7.2 percent and SY at 4.8 percent.  In the South, traffic was down 0.3 percent in January, but sales bumped upward 0.2 percent year over year.

The Midwest saw the biggest traffic decline. The West had the second lowest declines in sales (5.0 percent) and traffic (1.5 percent) of all four regions.

The report also noted the weather played a role in declining traffic. January 2018 saw large swaths of the Midwest, South and Northeast experience much colder weather year over year. In the Northeast particularly, snowfall had an effect on traffic.

The Retail Performance Plus Year over Year Report for January relies on data derived from more than seven million trips to national retail stores across America.

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