Retail stores starting to rise from the dead, data shows
America’s retail sector, squeezed by e-commerce competitors, has struggled over last few years to keep their doors open. However, a blossoming U.S. economy has given consumers a reason to head back into malls, according to data analytics company ShopperTrak.
ShopperTrak’s Brian Field told FOX Business on Friday that his company, which specializes in retail analytics, found that retailers are starting to see more customers.
“We work with thousands of retailers around the globe. We count 40 billion footsteps every single year. And the data that we have is showing that the in-store traffic is really coming back,” he said to Stuart Varney.
“What we saw about two years ago was its depth. There was a downward turn in traffic about mid-single digits and last year especially at the holiday season that was cut in half and that trend has continued this year.”
Although thousands of brick-and-mortar stores have closed shop over the past two years, the industry has begun to make a comeback, he said.
In addition, even though some analysts projected that Amazon Prime Day and Cyber Monday would be a “death knell” for bricks and mortar,” Field said that it had “zero impact” on retail traffic.
“Retailers themselves are finally coming to terms with what is the intersection with bricks and clicks,” he said. “Retailers that have been traditionally pure play online are starting to open up stores. Retailers that have a mix or haven’t been in the internet business … have been changing the way they have been doing business with their customers. They are focusing more on experiential retail.”