According to the BBC, despite the ever present credit crunch and current squeeze on household finances, British shoppers were busier than anticipated in August and exercised their wallets to buy sports and fitness goods.
Citing data from Experian’s national retail footfall index, the success of the British Olympic team helped boost British retail activity and reversed three consecutive months of falling shopper numbers.
Experian’s footfall index saw a 3.9% rise in August when compared with July. This also helped to support the year on year trend. Meanwhile, online retail activity was up 3.5% year on year. Here the Olympics effect was most pronounced. Web traffic to sports and fitness retailers peaked during the opening weekend of Olympics competition. By the end of the Olympics, traffic was still up 36% year on year.
"It is likely that shopping visits to out of town locations were helped by the resurgent interest in sports and fitness products and services, since many sports retailers are located in out-of-town destinations," says Robin Goad, Director of Research at Experian’s web tracking service Hitwise. Experian’s Hitwise data suggested that bicycle retailers received a notable boost, following the success of the GB cycling team.
The BBC report noted that data from the Nationwide Building Society had suggested that consumer confidence held steady in August, but was propped up by lower oil prices and the Olympics. "Lower petrol prices and more competitive new mortgage rates will be good news for the public. Team GB’s Olympic performance in Beijing may even have helped lift the nation’s spirits slightly," said Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s Chief Economist.
However, while the wider impact of the credit crunch is unlikely to have peaked, there are warnings that retail sales as a whole are likely to be hit by the general economic climate over the next 12 months.
