Weather, "Less Promotional Environment" Translate To Slow February For Stores

By Ally Kutz, contributing writer

Euclid Analytics reports for the month of February, the first day of the month — boosted by Super Bowl weekend and Valentine’s Day preparations — was the best day of the month for brick-and-mortar stores.

Overall, February, with harsh weather in much of the U.S. and “a less promotional environment” showed declines. General merchandise, apparel, furniture, and other (GAFO) retail sales declined 2.3 percent year-over-year. February also saw year-over-year declines in clothing and apparel sales (3.6 percent) and general merchandise (1.1 percent).

Euclid, which provides insights to brick-and-mortar retailers just as web analytics services do for e-commerce, also reports February shopper traffic declined 0.8 percent year over year compared February 2014. Storefront conversions fell 0.5 percent from January — which Euclid points out is their lowest rate in six months, but were 0.4 percent higher than last year.

Visit duration rose 15 percent compared to last year; however, Euclid points out this did not translate to an increase in sales. Repeat visits increased slightly by 0.5 percent year-over-year, which can be attributed to a “bump” around Valentine’s Day.

Bounce rate — defined as the percentage of shoppers who enter a store but leave within 5 minutes — was 8.7 percent in February, lower than 10.4 percent in February 2014. Euclid points out although the bounce rate improved year over year, it didn’t improve from January, as it usually does.

To read the complete report, visit http://info.euclidanalytics.com/WC15-02USRB_Reg_RLP.html.