September 2019 US Monthly Retail Traffic and In-Store Metrics: Traffic Decline Steepens

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 August Retail Traffic report:

• US store traffic declined 5.7% year over year in September. The conversion rate advanced 1.4 percentage points, average transaction value (ATV) declined 1.3% and the product return rate remained flat.
• September traffic varied over the course of the four weeks: The first week (which included Labor Day) performed the best. September 23 figures were low for sales, shopper yield, ATV and transaction volume.
• The northeast experienced the largest decline in traffic at 8.5%, and the south experienced the largest decrease in sales at 4.4%. The midwest had a marginal 0.3% increase in traffic but strong sales growth at 3.1%.