Retail News Index

The FSP Retail News Index is a 3 month moving average measure of sentiment in reported retail news stories.

The FSP Retail News Index is a 3 month moving average measure of sentiment in reported retail news stories.

The April RNI index for All Retailers increased to 99. For the first time since June 2009, all indices saw an increase.

Leisure increased the most, going up 7 to 101. Personal wasn't far behind increasing 4 to reach 99.

Food & Beverage and Grocery increased by 1, both are now at 102.

Clothing & Footwear and Household went up 2.

Grocery, Food & Beverage & Leisure now exceed the 2005 benchmark of 100.

Even with the double dip recession and news that overall spending dropped at the sharpest rate in 11 months, the news in April seems to be taking a positive turn.

FSP on average reviews over 350 unique items of retailer news. Each article is scored according to sentiment. RNI is the sum of these scores indexed against 2005 and averaged over a three month period. The RNI time series for all retailers starts from May 2002.

The latest report can be seen in full here. Releases typically break the results down by merchandise category, providing a reliable overview comparison across industry sectors.

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What is the Retail News Index?

Views expressed in the media not only reflect what is happening in the UK retail market but can conspire to create their own momentum. For example, the constant drip-feed of bad news tends to engender a negative mind-state whilst the increasing mention of ‘green-shoots’ has the opposite effect. Launched by FSP in 2009, the Retail News Index compliments the retail and economic statistics provided on our SnapShop website to give you an insight into the mood of the retail economy.

FSP typically reviews over 350 unique items of retailer news every month, from both industry journals and national press. Each item is scored according to the sentiment of the news (e.g expanding/strong sales growth - positive; store closures/redundancies - negative). RNI is the sum of these scores, indexed against 2005 and averaged over a three month period to eliminate volatility and produce a reliable trend indicator.

The content of this report has been derived from statistical, trade and published sources. Whilst FSP has used its best endeavours to ensure the accuracy of the information, it cannot accept liability for any data therein nor any interpretation made there from.