Christmas trade strong at Ellandi’s community shopping centres
Posted by Ellandi on 8th Jan 2016
Leading
community shopping centre investor Ellandi has reported much improved footfall
and trading from its £1bn portfolio that covers 29 shopping centres across the
UK, with major improvements in footfall in the final run up to Christmas and on
Boxing Day.
As
shoppers made convenient last minute purchases at their local town centres,
footfall in the Christmas week commencing Monday 21 December was 2.9% up.
With
post-Christmas sales in full-flow, footfall soared by 8.6% on Boxing Day across
the portfolio with Schemes in Chatham, Kettering, Gloucester, Great Yarmouth
and Romford posting significant increases in comparison to 2014.
“The
advent of Black Friday has obviously changed the way some customers organise
their shopping at Christmas but at Ellandi our community centres have been
enjoying a very strong autumn and winter,” commented Andrew Buckley, Director
of Research and Analytics at Ellandi.
“Ellandi
Centres are strong on value and convenience and this has been proven to be
strong motivation in attracting shoppers, helping to increase our footfall and
store takings. It is evident that consumers are looking to get the maximum
value from their Christmas spending whilst benefitting from the close proximity
of our schemes, rather than focus all their spending in out of town locations
and regional centres.”
“In a
year where recent weather has been so unseasonably mild and shopping patterns
continue to evolve, the consumer has really benefitted. Obviously, it is
inevitable that some shoppers have been holding out for the sales. I’m pleased
that our strategy to create destinations at the heart of the community,
allowing customers to shop efficiently and cost-effectively is, as reflected in
our encouraging Boxing Day figures, proving to be so successful."