January 2019 US Monthly Retail Traffic and In-Store Metrics Report: Post-Holiday Fatigue and Inclement Weather Drive Underwhelming January Traffic

Executive Summary

Coresight Research’s monthly reports keep you up to date on US and UK retail sales, US retail traffic and in-store metrics, selected US retailers’ same-store sales and key global consumer indicators. Click here to view our full collection of Monthly Reports.

Our US Monthly Retail Traffic and In-Store Metrics Report reviews year-over-year changes in selected store-based metrics, including sales, traffic and conversion rates.

Highlights from our January Retail Traffic report:

• Traffic declined 10.7% year over year in January. While the conversion rate grew 0.4 percentage points, average transaction value (ATV) grew 5.5%, and the product return rate declined by 2.4 percentage points.
• January performance varied over the course of the four weeks, with in-store net sales declining between 6.3% and 8.1% and traffic declining between 6.9% and 16.5%, with the second week of the month being the worst performing for both metrics. ATV and shopper yield registered growth in each week of the month.
• The Midwest experienced the largest year-over-year decline in traffic at 17.5%, while the South registered the smallest decline at 5.8%. The Midwest experienced the largest year-over-year in-store sales decline, down 16.8%, while the West registered the lowest dip in sales, down 1.4%.