Shopping centres, attendance up, turnover stable

Turnover grew and improved in June (+0.8% compared to -4.2% in May). Which, in the first half of the year, remain substantially in line with 2023 (-0.9%) but still with a minus sign. This is the outcome of the collaboration between CNCC (National Council of Shopping Centres) and EY to analyse monthly trends in the sector on the basis of a representative panel of 300 structures, equal to approximately 10,000 points of sale distributed throughout Italy.

Regarding the first half of 2024, in detail, the best performing categories compared to the same period in 2023 are: Personal Care and Health (+8.1%) and Service Activities (+0.7%). On the other hand, the trends recorded by Catering (+0.3 per cent) and Clothing (-0.3 per cent) were stable. Consumer Electronics (-6.5 per cent), Culture, Leisure and Gifts (-4.3 per cent) and Household Goods (-1.6 per cent) declined.

With reference to the month of June 2024 alone, compared to the same period in 2023, the positive result of Personal Care and Health (+10%) was confirmed, supported by the excellent performance of Optics and Perfumery, while Catering (+1.9%) and Clothing (+1.1%) continued to record positive trends. In particular, for this last product category, medium sized areas recorded better performances than small shops. Negative, on the other hand, were the performances of Services Activities (-4.7%), Consumer Electronics (-2.4%), Household Goods (-2.1%) and Culture, Leisure, and Gifts (-1.7%).

"In June," said Roberto Zoia, president of the CNCC, "turnover and attendance recorded positive trends, which influenced the trend for the entire six-month period. We can only be pleased with these results, which confirm that the shopping centre formula is valid and has shown the right resilience after a complex period. Clothing in particular, which is a particularly relevant category in the merchandising mix, after a downturn in the spring months, due to unfavourable weather, recovered in June and is now performing substantially in line with 2023 and 2019. Catering, on the other hand, remains positive despite the fact that the boost due to inflation has largely come to a halt.

"The data from the CNCC-EY Observatory," added Marco Daviddi, managing partner strategy and transactions at EY Italia, "show a substantially stable first half of 2024 compared to the same period of the previous year, with June showing signs of recovery compared to the same period of 2023. Particularly notable is the rise of the Personal and Health Care sector, which recorded an increase of 8.1% in the half-year period. This trend underlines the importance of having adequate and high skills in the management of Shopping Centres, in order to manage their offer to meet the increasingly diversified needs of consumers and to promote the Shopping Centres themselves not only as places to shop".