Bill Martin

Chicago -- Year-over-year national retail sales and foot-traffic are expected to increase for this August’s back-to-school season, according to ShopperTrak, with the overall sales number coming in 4% higher than last year. "This increase will follow year-over-year U.S. retail sales growth in 28 of the last 29 months,” said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak founder. “August will present retailers with a tremendous opportunity to take all steps possible to maximize their shopper opportunity and increase conversion rates." ShopperTrak reports year-over-year foot traffic percentages have been trending positively since Presidents Day. The people counting company expects the trend to continue through August.

Chicago -- A report released Wednesday by ShopperTrak said that sales increased just 0.2% year-over-year for the week ending in Dec. 3, representing a 22.5% decline from the prior week, which held the largest Black Friday in history — both in terms of sales and traffic. According to ShopperTrak, this sharp decline in retail sales is typical of the week following Thanksgiving. Although shoppers have an initial burst of activity spurred on by Black Friday sales promotions, they often stay home during the following week. “After the ‘Black’ weekend promotions play out, shoppers settle back and shop online for

Impulse purchases require people to browse the aisles, but that’s happening less these days because web-savvy consumers often already know what they plan to buy and simply pick it up and leave, said Bill Martin, chief executive officer of ShopperTrak.

 

The last Saturday before Christmas, also known as Super Saturday (Dec. 18), posted a 15.1 percent sales increase compared to the same time last year, according to ShopperTraks National Retail Sales Estimate. The year-over-year increases were dramatic, but obviously slanted as shopping activity was essentially crippled in the Northeast last year, says Bill Martin, founder of ShopperTrak. That said, we shouldnt discard the day as $7.58 billion spent is steady and compares admirably to $7.87 billion spent on Super Saturday 2008 when there was no blizzard. At this point, we anticipate Super Saturday will represent the second-largest traffic day

Year-over-year GAFO retail sales increased a 1.1% for the week ending Oct. 30 while sales slipped 3.9% versus the previous week ending Oct. 23, according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate. Week-over-week GAFO sales declined last week as the large majority of spending for Halloween merchandise and candy fell outside of the GAFO retail category which ShopperTrak routinely measures (general, apparel, furniture, office). However, on a yearly basis, sales posted a slight rise as cooler weather possibly lifted fall merchandise purchases in parts of the country.“Although the week-over-week decline was slightly larger than we anticipated, last week’s overall performance

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