Research by Oxford Partnership has revealed some good news as outlet closures have slowed in the past 4 weeks and we see the rate fall to -1% year to date.
Outlet closures have fallen to 1.8 outlets a day to the end of April compared to 2.2 outlets in the previous month. The biggest slow down in closure rates in in Urban areas as more and more businesses encourage workers back to the office.
And whilst consumer footfall is virtually flat versus 2023 (only -0.6% YTD) due to operators again reducing their opening hours by c-1% in the latest period, the good news is that those consumers who are venturing out, are spending longer over their occasions meaning that average dwell time continues to grow, albeit this growth has slowed in the last 4 weeks.
April’s consumer spending on overall Eating & Drinking saw stronger growth than in March, at +2.8% compared to +2.6%. This was driven by Easter trade in Pubs, Bars & Clubs where spend in the month was +3.9%. However, spend at Restaurants decreased by -13.1% in April 2024 versus this time last year, a further decline compared to March 2024 (-12.6%).
Encouraging news from the May Bank Holiday, sees transactions were +16.8% on May 4th compared to the previous Saturday, with 2.5 times as many sales processed compared to the average day this year so far.
Which, the data says shows that more promising picture of the trade is definitely emerging.
The data also revealed a “huge cause for optimism” as Europe looks forward to the Euros with Scotland kicking off on the 14th and England on the 16th of June. The last tournament grew beer & cider sales +9.4% with the five “golden” sales days all including the home nations. The final, where England lost to Italy, saw sales soar +131%.
