retail sales & marketing survey 2018 · facebook and instagram •more than half use facebook...

2018 RETAIL SALES & MARKETING

SURVEY

Church Street Marketplace

Prepared March 2019

WHAT IS THE RETAIL SALES AND

MARKETING SURVEY?

• Purpose –

• To understand how long term trends in retail sales and marketing are impacting Church Street Retailers

• To provide a forum for retailers for CSM functions

• Previously called the “Survey of Retailers”

• Annual Survey of Church Street Retailers only

• Not including Food and Beverage

• Topic Areas -

• Quarterly and Annual Sales 2018

• Retailers’ Marketing Tools

• Impacts of CSM Marketing

• Annually relevant CSM questions

SURVEY SPECIFICS

• Annually Collected

• Allows for comparison year to year

• Able to reflect relevant situations emergent from the

previous year

• Administered Jan 13 – Feb 3

• 26 Questions

• Estimated 10 minute completion time

• 40 Respondents

• 29 Locally Owned (72.5%)

• 11 Nationally Owned (27.5%)

• Overall 79% - 21% for CSM

• All Respondents identified as Retailers

• Results aggregated and anonymized

2018 RETAIL SALES

2018 SALES:REGIONAL RETAIL SALES TAX

$-

$20,000,000

$40,000,000

$60,000,000

$80,000,000

$100,000,000

$120,000,000

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Colle

cted T

ax R

eve

nue

Burlington South Burlington Williston EssexRetail Sales do not include apparel and shoes. This data comes from the Vermont State

Department of Taxes. The years listed above are calendar years. Includes local option tax.

2018 SALES:COMPARISON TO 2017 SALES

• Responses to the Question:

• How did OVERALL sales in 2018 compare to OVERALL sales in 2017?

• Insights:

• 64% of Respondents (23) were UP in 2018

• 8% (3) were EVEN

• 28% were DOWN

• These numbers are comparable to previous year figures

Up

64%

Even

8%

Down

28%

2018 SALES:UP, DOWN, EVEN 2006 - 2018

80%

63%

53%

78%

65%

43%

65% 64%

5%8% 10%

3%

13%

30%

19%

8%

15%

29%

37%

19%22%

27%

16%

24%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

2006 2010 2011 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Up Even Down

Responses were collected in the annual Retail Sales and Marketing Survey. The number of responses each year were as follows: 2014-42, 2015-

23, 2016-34, and 2017-37. 2018-39. There are approximately 30 CSM restaurants and 70 stores.

2018 SALES:BEST RETAIL SALES QUARTER OF 2018

11%5%

28%56%

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Findings from Retail Sales and Marketing Survey. The survey was conducted in January 2019 and had 39 responses. Sales numbers refer to overall

sales for the business within that calendar year.

Quarter

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Perf

orm

ance

1st 11% 6% 28% 56%

2nd 8% 22% 53% 17%

3rd 6% 64% 14% 17%

4th 75% 8% 6% 11%

2018 SALES:TOP SALES PERIODS

PER QUARTER

• Respondents were asked to rate the three best performing sales periods per quarter

• Options chosen from a drop down menu with relevant possible dates

• Other option available to write-in

• 36 Responses

• Insights:

• Items in green represent events partially coordinated by CSM

• Holidays and Celebrations are some of the best performing periods, but Events are significant sales periods as well

1st 2nd 3rd

Q1 President’s Day

(29)

Valentine’s Day

(25)

Mardi Gras (22)

Q2 UVM Graduation

(29)

Memorial Day

(17)

Discover Jazz

Festival (14)

Q3 Sidewalk Sale

(24)

Independence

Day (20)

Labor Day (18)

Q4 Week before

Christmas (30)

UVM Family

Weekend (24)

Santa Parade (13

Each)

Small Business

Saturday

BUSINESS DEMOGRAPHICS

BUS INESS DEM OG RAPHICS :

DISTR IBUT ION CHANNELS

• Respondents were asked:

• What other channels does your business or sell products through?

• Insights:

• 75% of respondents use an online store

• 50% of respondents sell their products in another store

• 35% use social media for sales

31

21

14

45

4

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Website Other

business

locations

Social Media Catalogue None Other

Num

ber

of R

esp

ondents

BUSINESS DEMOGRAPHICS:WHERE DO YOU

EXPERIENCE THE MOST TRAFFIC?


• Where do you experience the most traffic?

• Insights:

• 66% of respondents feel their Church Street location is their most profitable

• Only 10% do most of their business online

Church Street

Location

66%E-Commerce

10%

Other Physical

Locations

24%

BUSINESS DEMOGRAPHICS:WHAT PERCENTAGE OF SALES ARE ONLINE?

0-10%

59%

10-50%

33%

Greater than

50%

8%• Respondents were asked:

• If your business has an online

store, what percentage of your

sales are online?

• Received 24 responses

• Insights:

• ~60% of respondents make less

than 10% of their sales online

• Another 33% make less than half

of their revenue online

BUSINESS DEMOGRAPHICS:WHO ARE YOUR

PRIMARY CUSTOMERS?


• Who are the primary customers of your Church Street store?

• Insights:

• Nearly equal percentages of respondents rely on Tourists as do Burlington Residents

• Only 3% (1 respondent) have college students as their primary customers

• Other Vermonters make up the remaining 25% of primary customers

Tourists

33%

Burlington Residents

31%

Other Vermont

Reisdents

25%

College

Students

3% No

Majority

8%

BUSINESS DEMOGRAPHICS:DO YOU MEASURE FOOT TRAFFIC?

Yes

32%

No

68%


• Do you have a method of

measuring foot traffic in your store?

• Insights:

• Majority of respondents do not

measure foot traffic in their stores

• Of those that do (11

respondents)…

• 8 use an electronic method

• 2 use hand counters

• 1 counts transactions

ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONS

ADVERTISING METHODS:

CONVENTIONAL


• What outlets does your business use to advertise?

• 35 responses

• Insights:

• 75% use email marketing, while only

~25% use direct mailing methods

• Of those that use print methods…

• 17 use Seven Days

• 12 use Burlington Free Press

• Of those that use the radio…

• 8 use VPR

• 7 use Star 92.9

• 5 use The Point 104.7

• 3 use WVMT or WIZN 106.7

• 2 use WOKO 98.9

27

1716

1110

7

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Email Newspaper Radio Magazine Direct Mail Television

ADVERTISING METHODS:

SOCIAL MEDIA


• Please Indicate which social media outlets your business uses.

• 35 responses

• Insights:

• Nearly all businesses use Facebook and Instagram

• More than half use Facebook ads (22)

• Less than 10% (3 respondents) use the VT made social media Front Porch Forum

31 31

22

9

76

43

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Facebook Instagram Facebook

Ads

Twitter Pinterest Google

Ads

LinkedIn Front

Porch

Forum

ADVERTISING:HOW OFTEN DO YOU USE SOCIAL

MEDIA?


• How often does your business post on social media?

• 35 responses

• Insights:

• More than a third of businesses (13) are updating social media every day

• More than half (18) are updating on a weekly or twice a week basis

• A small number (3) of respondents update only monthly

Several times

a day

12%

Daily

26%

Bi-weekly

15%

Weekly

38%

Monthly

9%

PROMOTIONS:RETAIL PROMOTIONS

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Discounted merchandise

Coupons

Customer Loyalty Programs

Sweepstakes/ Drawings

Flash Sales• Respondents were asked:

• What types of sales promotions does

your business offer?

• 32 respondents

• Insights:• Almost all respondents use some sort

of discounted merchandise

• About a third (11) use a loyalty

program

PROMOTIONS:CSM EVENT

PARTICIPATION


• How often do you participate in Church Street Events?

• 35 Responses

• Insights:

• Majority of respondents ”Always” or “Usually” participate in CSM Events

• Only 3 respondents “Rarely” participate

• No respondents chose that they “Never” participate in CSM events

Always

21%

Usually

38%

Ocassionally

32%

Rarely

9%

PROMOTIONS:EVENTS WANTED FOR 2019

First Half of 2019 Occurrences

Shop and Sip 9

Jazz Fest Event 5

Winter Marketplace Wide Sale 6

Spring Cleaning Sale 4

Easter Related Event 3

Penguin Plunge 2

Earth Day Event 2

Second Half of 2019 Occurrences

Eat/Buy Local Event 6

Shop and Sip 4

Festival of Fools Event 4

Fashion Show 2

Craft/Maker's Market 2

• Respondents were asked:• What events would you like to see in 2019? Please

include 3 for both the first and second half of the

year

• 23 and 24 responses respectively

• Responses occurring more than once included here

• Insights• Respondents were hopeful for another

Shop & Sip in both halves of 2019

• The first took place Feb. 15

• Marketplace-wide sales were desired for both the

Winter and Spring seasons

• Respondents want coordination with existing city

events (i.e. Jazz Festival and Festival of Fools

CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RETAILERS

Our results suggest that even

though the downtown is in

transition (i.e. CityPlace), retail

remains strong

Quarterly Sales data suggests Q1

and Q2 are best suited for

events and promotions

Expanded E-Commerce options

could create resilience as retail

continues to change

Implementing foot traffic

counters would allow for more

tangible metrics of performance

and sale conversions

SURVEY DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS

When creating questions regarding best sales period, the question could be reframed to better reflect directly impacted periods (i.e. events/promotions)

Ask retailers which specific CSM events they have participated

Eliminate answer options that received no responses

Continue to check in about online sales and foot traffic counters

Think throughout the year about potential topical questions about the state of retail and the state of CSM

THANK YOU!

Presentation prepared by Nathan Lantieri on behalf of the

Church Street Marketplace Department in March of 2019

retail sales & marketing survey 2018 · facebook and instagram •more than half use facebook...

Documents