Agencies, consumer spending, ad spend: 5 interesting stats to start your week

We arm you with all the stats you need to prepare for the coming week and help you understand the big industry trends.

Footfall still down a third despite ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme providing a boost

Footfall across all retail destinations in the UK was up by 3.8% last week compared to the week before.

High street footfall increased 4.5%, shopping centres 3% and retail parks 3.3%. The biggest increase was seen post 6pm, when the government’s ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme led to an 18.9% rise in footfall. It was also up 9.6% at lunchtime.

Nevertheless, footfall across the UK remains more than a third lower than 2019, down 34% year on year.

Source: Springboard

Brands relying less on agencies during pandemic

Brands are relying less on agencies now than before the pandemic as they reduce campaign launches and opt for in-house work.

While 40% of 500 marketers questioned say the relationship has stayed the same, 24% say they have relied less on agencies and 10% that they have cut them completely.

Just 5.5% say they have expanded their use of agencies.

Source: Marketing Week and Econsultancy

UK car sales rise for the first time this year

UK new car registrations increased for the first time this year, up by 11.3% in July as pent-up demand helps lift the market.

Some 174,886 cars were registered last month, the first full month of trading since February. This is a significant improvement on July last year, when declining business and consumer confidence hit sales.

However, overall registrations are still down 41.9% for the year to-date. And it is expected the market will contract by 30% this year, equal to £20bn in lost sales.

Source: SMMT

Ad spend falls 48% as lockdown hits

UK ad spend on traditional media almost halved between 23 March and the end of June, down 48% from £2.3bn in 2019 to £1.2bn in 2020.

The categories with the biggest fall were entertainment and leisure, where spend was down £207m, and travel and transport with a £138m decrease.

McDonald’s was the biggest faller, with its media spend down 97%, followed by Amazon on 77% and Sky on 60%. Public Health England was the biggest rise, increasing its media spend by 5,000%, followed by Walt Disney on 962% and eBay on 176%.

Source: Nielsen

Consumer spending intentions remain low

Consumer spending intentions remain low despite lockdown easing, with 24% of consumers say they expect to spend less than usual over the next months compared with 11% who say they will spend more.

The most common categories for reducing spending are fashion and clothiing on 37%, small electronics on 28%, large electronics on 27%, and health and beauty on 27%.

Nevertheless, 14% of shoppers intend to visit shops to browse, up from 12% at the start of the month, while those saying they would avoid visiting shops if at all possible fell to 23%, from 32%.

Some 51% of respondents felt that retailers were doing enough to protect the public from coronavirus, with only 13% disagreeing.

Source: BRC and Opinium

Recommended