RMC recently contributed to an article in De Telegraaf about the decline in popularity of the Thursday evening shopping event. A study was conducted on the foot traffic during shopping nights on Thursdays (15 cities) and Fridays (6 cities). The visitor counts for these evenings (between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM) in September and October of this year were compared with the same months in the previous year. Below are some quotes from the article featuring Huib Lubbers, Director of Bureau RMC.

“It’s definitely half as busy as it was ten years ago,” says Huib Lubbers. He is the director of RMC, which uses sensors to count foot traffic in city centers. The enthusiasm for shopping nights has been declining for years, and the lowest point has not yet been reached, as the data shows.

Both Thursday and Friday evenings are quieter now compared to a year ago, with declines of 17.3% and 19.9%, respectively. RMC compared footfall data from September and October of last year with the same months this year. The researchers looked at fifteen cities with Thursday shopping nights and six cities with Friday shopping nights.

In almost all cities, there is a significant drop. On Thursday evenings, Groningen and Leeuwarden stand out with declines of 34% and 33.2%, respectively. Alkmaar and Amsterdam also saw much fewer visitors, with drops of 25.4% and 23.3%. Haarlem is the only city where it was slightly busier, with an increase of 0.2%.

The same pattern is seen on Friday evenings. Eindhoven is the biggest outlier, with nearly a third fewer visitors (32.8%). Rotterdam and Vlissingen also saw significant drops, with decreases of 21.3% and 21.7%, respectively.

This trend continues, says Lubbers from Bureau RMC. “Especially between 2013 and 2018, the shopping night became much quieter in the streets. People began shopping more online, the Sunday shopping option grew in popularity, and stores started opening longer hours on other days.” In short: “So many alternatives to shopping nights have emerged.”

Lubbers was surprised by the new data. “I had expected that the sharp decline would be behind us.” In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, there was stabilization, and some cities even showed a slight increase during shopping nights. After the pandemic, however, there has been no reversal. “While the trend on all other days has shown a slight positive shift.” In the past two months, the overall foot traffic across all days was 5.3% busier than the same period last year.

Although the shopping night has lost much of its appeal, few cities have abolished it. “The people who come on shopping night are great customers,” explains Lubbers. “They spend much more. That’s why especially businesses in fashion and luxury goods continue with it. This allows them to spend more time with their customers.”

For the full article in De Telegraaf, click here.