Euclid Releases Its Monthly Retail Benchmarks Report of April

Euclid, the leader of in-store retail analytics, releases its monthly retail benchmarks report to analyze shopper activity and behavior during the month of April. This month’s report measured data from tens of millions of domestic shopping sessions to reveal that shopper activity failed to achieve the surge that was expected with Easter late in the month this year.

Euclid asserts that its metrics illustrate a weak outlook for industry revenues, and estimates general merchandise, apparel, furniture and other (GAFO) retail sales declined by as much as two percent year-over-year.

Shopper traffic and repeat visits remained below last year’s levels as the transition towards warmer weather remained choppy. However, average duration was significantly higher than last year as a result of more extensive visits from consumers looking to complete their holiday shopping.

Here are some of Euclid’s top findings in this month’s report around shopper behavior metrics:
-Shopper traffic declined ten percent compared to the same month last year, as the secular trends driving shopping away from the physical store outweighed the benefits of the Easter holiday falling in April.
-Storefront conversion was up one percent as a result of a heavily promotional Easter holiday this year.
-Average duration increased seven percent from last year as shoppers were very engaged in the store and exhibited more browsing. The visit duration boost was the most positive signal from the April results.
-Repeat visits decreased two percent year-over-year as last year saw a peak in repeat activity that did not reemerge. More shoppers chose to accomplish their holiday purchases early and in fewer trips.

The best day of the month was Sunday the 6th, with some of the month’s best customer engagement performance. Shoppers appeared to browse more and exhibit more complete visits than expected. This was a big day for Easter shopping. The worst day of the month was Friday the 25th, which saw significant underperformance in traffic. This day appeared to be affected by a shopping hangover after Easter.

Looking at Easter more closely, the week preceding the holiday Sunday showed the same mixed performance as the month as a whole. Traffic was down nearly nine percent against the comparable period last year. However, engagement was significantly better than last year, with average visit duration up ten percent. Shoppers were well engaged by the seasonal merchandise, but this was likely not enough to compensate for fewer numbers.