Traffic Rebounded While Cautious Spending Lingered in April According to Newest U.S. Retail Benchmarks Report From Euclid Analytics

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - May 7, 2015) - Euclid Analytics, the leader in Wi-Fi location analytics, today released 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 shopping activity increased compared to last year, yet the additional activity failed to translate into sales growth. Traffic grew year-over-year for the first time in months and in-store engagement improved once again. The early Easter did not cause a drop off in visits to the store, but consumer caution around spending tax refunds prevented a commensurate sales boost.

Euclid asserts that its metrics illustrate a negative outlook for industry revenues, and estimates sales growth in the following retail verticals of:

• 1.1% decline year-over-year in general merchandise, apparel, furniture and other (GAFO) retail sales
• 2.1% decline year-over-year in clothing and apparel sales
• 1.6% decline year-over-year in general merchandise sales

Here are some of Euclid's top findings in this month's report around shopper behavior metrics:

• Shopper traffic increased twelve percent compared to the same month last year as warmer weather and the Easter holiday drove consumers out shopping.
• Storefront conversion increased less than one percent year-over-year as more targeted shopping trips were seen in a more promotional environment.
• Duration increased eighteen percent from last year as weather and promotions propelled longer shopping trips. However, a year-over-year decrease in tax refund volume and less willingness to spend refunds may have mitigated the impact of duration improvement on average sales.
• Repeat visits decreased one percent year-over-year due to more efficient holiday shopping.

The best shopping day of April was Monday the 6th. The 6th experienced significantly higher traffic and storefront conversion than last year. In addition bounce rate hit its low for the month despite the extra traffic volume. Many more shoppers were seen on the day after Easter than typically expected as heightened promotions continued. On the other hand, Sunday, April 19th was the worst shopping day of the month. The 19th experienced lower than expected traffic and particularly low average duration. Sundays were strong days last April, but it appears that some of this activity moved to Monday this year.

To view the complete findings, download the full report on shopper activity for the month of April here: http://info.euclidanalytics.com/WC15-04USRB_Reg_RLP.html

About Euclid
Euclid Analytics is the world leader in Wi-Fi location analytics. The company provides answers and insights for the physical world in the same way that web analytics do for e-commerce. By accurately analyzing visitor traffic, behavior and shopping patterns, Euclid helps the world's leading brands design the perfect customer experience for their brick-and-mortar locations and drive better business results.

Euclid's network captures billions of measurements per day, analyzing hundreds of millions of potential shopping sessions per year across tens of thousands of locations including retail stores, quick service restaurants, airports and shopping malls. Only anonymous, non-personal data is ever collected and only aggregated trend data is used for analysis. Visit http://euclidanalytics.com for more information.