No Quick Fix for Oxford Street

Released on = October 4, 2005, 4:07 am

Press Release Author = Theo Chalmers MCIPR, Managing Director, Verve Public Relations

Industry = Retail

Press Release Summary = The latest figures from SPSL's Retail Traffic IndexT (RTIT) show that the historic event designed to revive the fortunes of shops in London's West End last weekend delivered mixed results. Saturday's "Celebrate Oxford Street - Dress to Impress" event did help lift shopper numbers in the Congestion Zone by 10.0% compared to the previous week. And in Oxford Street itself, stores' footfall levels were up by just over 30% against the previous Saturday. However, the year-on-year figures were less flattering and more revealing; in the Congestion Zone shopper numbers were down 12.1% and in Oxford Street itself numbers were down by over 5%.

Press Release Body = According to Dr Tim Denison, Director of Knowledge Management at SPSL; "These latest figures demonstrate the size of the challenge facing Oxford Street in 2005. Not even the glitz and glamour of celebrities nor roads closed to traffic could encourage as many shoppers into the West End as there were on a normal Saturday in October just last year.

"Welcome to retailers as they are, promotions and marketing campaigns alone are not going to be sufficient to attract shoppers back permanently to the West End. The issues are more deep-rooted than that. Some of the blame can be attributed to the fallout from 7th July and the general retail slowdown, but certainly not all of it. The downward trend in shopper numbers there was present long before this summer, the terrorist attacks and the Congestion
Charge Zone.

Oxford Street and Regent Street used to be a magnet for shoppers worldwide, offering a combination of destination stores, high quality retail environments and exclusive products that couldn't be equalled elsewhere. Today this simply isn't the case and no amount of cosmetic treatment will make it so, as revealed by these figures. The numbers simply vindicate this year's establishment of the West End Company and the urgency of its aim: 'to make the West End a world retail destination'.

Retailers, journalists or analysts wishing to find out more about SPSL's award-winning customer services should contact Dr Denison at SPSL on 01908 265007.

ENDS

ABOUT SPSL

Established in 1989, SPSL is the largest European provider of proprietary tools for high accuracy customer traffic and behavioural analysis deployed by retailers. The company monitors more than 375 million visits to over 1,750 retail premises per annum in the UK alone. Its customers include many of the retail industry's most successful companies across all retail sectors except grocery, convenience and minor retail service sectors. SPSL is trusted by retailers to provide mission-critical Key Performance Indicators
to measure customer volume, sales opportunities, conversion rates, staff stretch, promotional activity and in-store lay-outs. Its data features regularly in serious trade and consumer media and it exclusively provides the UK Retail Traffic Weather Map as seen in Retail Week and on the Retail Bulletin website. Director of SPSL,
retail psychologist Dr. Tim Denison is a frequent and popular commentator on issues relating to shopping for national and regional broadcast, print and online media.

Using SPSL systems, retailers are able to reliably measure customer traffic flow on an ongoing hour-by-hour basis as well as determine in-store 'weather', assess the impact of marketing initiatives, and tailor staff levels according to customer demand rather than service supply. The company owes its unrivalled reputation and success on the accuracy, dependability and specialist nature of both its data and
its support services. It runs its UK and European operations from its head office in Milton Keynes, England and invests heavily in developing advanced behavioural analysis and tracking tools to create ever more beneficial trading results for its customers and ever more enriched shopping experiences for theirs.

ABOUT THE RETAIL TRAFFIC INDEX (RTI)

The RTI from SPSL is regarded as the national benchmark of retail shopper traffic flow. It is constructed using a nationally representative sample of over 375 million visits to over 1,750 retail premises per annum across the UK, excluding the grocery,
convenience and minor retail service sectors. For further details and a full explanation see www.customercounting.com.

Web Site = http://www.vervepr.co.uk/

Contact Details = For PRODUCT information please contact:

Dominic McGuinness or Dr Tim Denison SPSL 47 Burners Lane South Kiln Farm

MILTON KEYNES

MK11 3HA

Tel: +44( 0)1908 265007

Fax: +44( 0)1908 265009

website: www.customercounting.com

MEDIA enquiries to:

Theo Chalmers
Verve Public Relations
Park House, 8 Grove Ash
Mount Farm
MILTON KEYNES MK1 1BZ
Tel: +44( 0)1908 275271
Fax: +44( 0)1908 275272
e-mail: t.chalmers@vervepr.co.uk