New research from Placer.ai, the consulting service that monitors retail foot traffic, shows that shopper visits to Macy’s , JC Penney and Dillard’s all started to trail off in July following substantial gains in the two months before.
At each of the three national retailers, store traffic began to fall starting in the second half of June and continuing to July. Prior to that the department stores saw impressive gains as they reopened and consumers began to emerge from stay-at-home requirements. While none of the stores were hitting 2019 levels they were edging closer until pandemic numbers began to rise again.
Macy’s growth stalled with COVID resurgences and the brand appears to be increasingly affected by the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. Penney is following a similar path while Dillard’s mid-July visits generated some of the lowest traffic across the weeks measured.
Placer.ai concluded, the success of this sector – at least in the short term – will depend on the government’s ability to effectively control the impact of the pandemic.
