Christmas Report 2015

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Introduction 3

Festive Line up 3-5

The BID’s Digital Campaign 6-7

Retailer Feedback 8-9

Visitors to Hammersmith 10-11

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Introduction For the 2015 Christmas period, HammersmithLondon devised a campaign specifically aimed at increasing footfall, dwell time and spend in the town centre while also creating a fun and festive atmosphere for workers, residents and visitors. Through initiatives such as Christmas lighting, a 25 ft HammersmithLondon tree, free gift wrapping and a targeted digital campaign, the BID was able to promote Hammersmith as a key shopping destination. One that would rival the offer of neighbouring areas.

During the Christmas period we surveyed hundreds of people including shoppers and those enjoying the BID’s services as well as retailers to measure how much of an impact these initiatives had on the town centre.

Via the BID’s own analysis and through examining national factors, this report hopes to paint an accurate picture of Hammersmith’s 2015 Christmas trading period.

The 2015 HammersmithLondon Festive Line UpTo have a positive impact on Hammersmith town centre, the BID’s Christmas line-up had to draw people into the area and so a series of events and initiatives were organised that would both help to enhance Hammersmith and support the retail offer.

The Christmas lights and tree were installed in early December to help give the area a visual boost and the BID’s festive cabin was once again placed in Lyric Square. A team was in the cabin from Monday, December 7 to Wednesday, December 23 (excluding Sundays) offering free gift wrapping to anyone who had bought a present in Hammersmith. By showing them a receipt as proof of purchase they were able to have their items wrapped there and then. Retailers were able to use the free gift wrapping as a tool to help sales, with many encouraging their customers to take advantage of the service.

“The gift wrapping service is a very good idea. It helps to give Hammersmith a unique and strong selling point and we encouraged a lot of our customers to take their smaller gifts to the BID’s Christmas Cabin so they could be wrapped for free. It was a very useful tool for us.” Romeo Dayi, Manager Moss Bros

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During the fifteen days that the service was available, the HammersmithLondon team wrapped a total of 2,013 items, which is slightly less than 2014, but that is compared to a longer period of 19 days. This is a very robust number which feedback indicated was due to a strong awareness of the service and in particular, retailers themselves promoting it.

As you can see from the graph below, the gift wrapping started relatively slowly, only surpassing 100 presents on the first Friday, but this is reflective of the trading conditions in the town centre at that time. Businesses told us that footfall and trade were slow during the first week, but that things picked up in the final few days before Christmas. This is reflected in the below figures which show that the team wrapped 600 presents in the final three days - more than they did in the first week.

Gifts wrapped in HammersmithLondon Christmas Cabin

The feedback we received from the public was also supportive and complimentary which reinforced that the service remains a popular and useful asset for the town centre.

Everyone asked said they would recommend the service with 98% saying that similar initiatives would encourage them to return to Hammersmith. 93% felt that it was an excellent offer which helped to bolster the appeal of the town centre. Of the people that used the service, 40% worked in the area which is very encouraging as it shows that the BID’s projects not only supported local retailers but provided a useful service for Hammersmith employees.

One of the most important benefits of the gift wrapping was to encourage people to spend locally, so the fact that more than 2,000 items were wrapped during this period shows that the service had a positive impact on the area.

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The BID’s Digital Campaign The BID used the Christmas period to heavily promote its free new smartphone App, the E-Privilege Card, which enables users to benefit from great discounts and deals at the town’s shops, restaurants and pubs.

Once they had downloaded the App they could also take advantage of the HammersmithLondon Giving Tree; an innovative digital tool which allowed users to receive messages from the Lyric Square Christmas Tree via the App.

A beacon was placed on the tree which used geofencing technology to push notifications to App users within a 20ft radius. The messages were a combination of festive greetings and local discounts.

This campaign proved to be a success as during the Christmas period, there were 142 new App downloads taking the total number of users to 790, who carried out just over 3,500 sessions during December.

During the festive campaign the HammersmithLondon website received an increase in its usage with just under 3,500 page views, with the most popular pages proving to be:

1. E-Privilege Card

2. Deals in Hammersmith

3. What’s Happening in Hammersmith

HammersmithLondon’s social media channels were also busy during December. On Instagram, our posts were each ‘Liked’ on average 20 times per picture and on Twitter, people mentioned HammersmithLondon 50 times, with 529 visiting our profile and the number of users increased to 2,502.

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Retailer Feedback The Christmas trading period delivered some highs and lows for Hammersmith retailers, as although

the majority of businesses surveyed by the BID reported an increase in both footfall and spend, others

felt the detrimental effects of the unseasonably warm weather and the continued popularity of online

shopping.

Fashion retailers in particular reported a drop in sales as the lack of cold weather meant they were

unable to sell a lot of their winter clothing range which negatively affected their year-on-year figures.

This, combined with the ever present threat of online shopping, meant that some retailers fell short of

their targets.

However, it was a positive story for the majority of Hammersmith retailers as 68% told us their

revenue increased while 58% said their footfall was up for the festive period. Many fed back to us

that December had felt quite slow until the final week, in which they reported a big final push which

was vital for them.

As you can see from the graph below, when compared to December 2014 - which was a very strong

retail year in Hammersmith - 56% of retailers reported either the same or an increase, which bucked

the 2015 national downward trend for high streets.

How did Christmas 2015 compare to 2014?

Increase 39%

Decrease 27%

Non-Comparable

27%

Same17%

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Retailers gave a number of reasons for why they felt Hammersmith had gone against the grain, which

included stronger offers and promotions, stores becoming more established and the BID’s Christmas

line-up. Many businesses commented that the gift-wrapping significantly added to the appeal of the

town centre and gave people a strong reason to come into Hammersmith. 90% of those businesses

surveyed felt the BID’s overall Christmas campaign was good or excellent and that it was essential for

the Hammersmith economy during December. Looking forward, retailers did express a view that they

would like to see further lighting and for the BID to consider undertaking more events.

A number of key high street retailers highlighted HammersmithLondon’s digital campaign for helping to

promote offers to a wider audience.

“I was very impressed with the BID’s digital campaign and in particular, the new E-Privilege Card. It’s a very strong marketing tool which enabled us to reach out to workers, residents and visitors to Hammersmith. The exposure we received on the HammersmithLondon website was also greatly appreciated and helped us achieve a 19% increase in our food sales.” The King Street branch of a leading National retailer

*figures accurate as of 18/01/16

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Novotel

Marks and Spencer

The Brook Green Hotel

L’Oreal (UK) Ltd

Holiday Inn Express

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3%

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6%

9%

Visitors to Hammersmith For the second year, HammersmithLondon had a Welcome Ambassador in the town centre to act as a

visible presence throughout the Christmas period. The Ambassador was a useful asset as she was on

hand to meet and greet visitors, promote the BID and engage with the businesses.

During December she welcomed just over 500 visitors to the area and carried out 124 business

interactions. As you can see in the graph below, the Novotel hotel and Marks and Spencer were the

most requested destinations.

What is interesting to take from the Ambassador’s data is that almost 80% of her visitor interactions

came from tourists. Over the past few years we have witnessed a trend in which Hammersmith has

increasingly been chosen as a tourist destination due to its proximity to the centre of London, its

excellent transport links and competitive room prices.

As we start to see more visitors coming into the area it is very important for the BID to continue

organising events and initiatives, such as in Christmas campaign, which will further contribute to their

experience of Hammersmith.

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Conclusion While the national 2015 Christmas trading period may have been bleak for some high streets with

footfall trends heavily affected by online shopping - particularly shoppers moving online for Black Friday

deals - Hammersmith enjoyed a relatively healthy time. While December may have started slow, by the

final week there had been enough of an uplift that many of the retailers we surveyed could report that

they had matched their 2014 sales or in many cases, surpassed them.

This, however, was not the case for all of the retailers we spoke to and in particular fashion shops were

hit hardest by the unseasonably warm weather. Overall though, the picture for Hammersmith was a

bright one.

Retailers felt the BID’s impact was welcome and very noticeable, and in future they have asked us

to do even more, specifically requesting weekend events in the hope of boosting footfall outside of

office hours. They rated the gift wrapping and the Christmas tree as their two favourite aspects of our

campaign.

The shoppers that we surveyed - a mixture of workers, residents and visitors - also felt that the BID’s

contribution to the town centre was good, if not excellent. Initiatives such as the gift wrapping gave

Hammersmith a unique offer and the tree and lights made the area feel vibrant.

We also asked them what they would like to see in Hammersmith in the future to which the majority

replied:

• A better selection of shops

• Bigger range of Christmas decorations

• A Christmas market

HammersmithLondon BID. Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, London W6 0QL

Telephone: 020 3362 4626 hammersmithlondonbid.co.uk