Retail News Index

FSPs Retail News Index is a 3 month moving average measure of sentiment in reported retail news stories. The index for All Retailers went down slightly to 97 compared with 98 last month. The December 2010 and 2011 All Retailer indices were both 97
 

All indices went down in December, apart from Food & Beverage which remained the same at 103.

Leisure went down 1 to 101 and Grocery also went down 1 to 99 compared with November.

Personal and Household both went down to 95.

Clothing and Footwear saw the biggest decline going from 93 to 90. The lowest of all the indices.

Only Food & Beverage and Leisure now exceed the 2005 benchmark of 100.

The dip in positive news is likely due to the reports regarding poor sales in the run up to Christmas. Over 2011 the different indices have fluctuated, however comparing December 2010 with December 2011 most have changed very little. Only Household showed a significant drop.

FSP on average review over 350 unique items of retailer news. Each article is then 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.