State of the Retail Nation survey 2012 - results

The results are now in from the 2012 State of the Retail Nation survey. Shopping Centre’s exclusive industry-wide survey, conducted by Business Blueprints The survey again provides a sobering view from the UK’s shopping centres, according to Paul Latimer, director of research at Business Blueprints.

He says: “While the actual picture appears no worse one year on, there is no real belief that we will see positive movements in demand or in consumer confidence for at least another 12 months. This 12 months wait is almost identical to a year ago. Centre management continue to find ways to operate positively in the current economic environment but it appears that this will be with us for some time yet.”

As in all the previous surveys the researchers began by exploring those issues that centre managers felt had been their biggest challenges over the previous 12 months. The findings for 2012 show a familiar pattern. The most common responses were again perhaps not surprisingly ‘empty units/store closures’, ‘footfall’ and ‘the recession’. Allowing for multiple responses ‘empty units/store closure’ were chosen by almost three quarters of our sample – up from only 50 per cent one year ago, while more than ever respondents seemed to feel the impact of the recession.

For the full report from Shopping Centre, click here.

Tweet