Athleisure, wearable tech and collect in-store: festive winners at Hammerson malls

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 26, 2017

Hammerson said sales activity increased by 0.7% across its UK-wide portfolio of shopping centres in December, outperforming the average growth rate for the month of -0.1% across UK high streets according the BDO High Street Sales Tracker.

Across Hammerson shopping centres sales increased 0.5% like-for-like for the eight weeks to 31 December, with Black Friday promotional activity kicking off earlier in November.

The ubiquitous athleisure trend helped send like-for-like sales of sports and outdoor products soaring by 14.4% in December, following a consistent performance throughout 2016 with many retailers launching their own sports lines and a growing number of celebrity endorsements.

Technology was also a standout performer during the festive period, reporting a 10% rise on a like-for-like basis, as tech-savvy customers invested in Fitbits and wireless headphones in the final month of the year.

Meanwhile, department stores at Hammerson shopping centres enjoyed a healthy 2.1% rise in sales in December as time-stretched shoppers looked to stock up on gifts and update their winter wardrobes in one convenient place.

“It is encouraging to see positive momentum in consumer spending during the all-important festive trading period. Customers are looking for much more of an experience, and it’s clear that the festive themed events we hosted across our retail destinations proved a big pull for customers,” said Hammerson CEO David Atkins.

The company also said the growth of Click & Collect shows no sign of slowing down, with Brent Cross now ranking second for Collect+ volumes, processing almost 600 parcels in the final week of December alone. This performance outstripped any other shopping centre in the Collect+ portfolio.

“With the huge success of Click & Collect across our centres, it is clear that our omnichannel strategy is succeeding in blurring the line between physical and digital and I am delighted to see our centres rank so highly in the Collect+ portfolio,” said Atkins.