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Why Skipton is a perfectly balanced place to live

Posted on: 27 November 2023

In this third blog of our series looking at balanced locations, we shift our focus to Skipton, a picturesque market town in North Yorkshire known for its rich history and breath taking countryside known as “the Gateway to the Dales”.

With its 900-year-old medieval castle forming a centrepiece that overlooks the town and its charming, cobbled streets, traditional shops and vibrant markets, Skipton has retained its historic character while also providing modern amenities and a welcoming atmosphere for residents and visitors alike. These key contributing factors have earned Skipton its place on our list of perfectly balanced places to live per our report, “Six Pillars of Success: Building Resilient Places”.

If you have yet to read our blog that introduces these pillars, we consider a ‘perfectly balanced’ place to be:

One that houses a suitable mix of chain and independent retailers at optimal sizes
Supplies unique offline experiences that meet the community’s needs
Provides community infrastructure that supports daily living
Offers adequate residential properties for the community
Offers employment opportunities and flexible working spaces
Encourages time spent outdoors in green spaces.

So, what exactly are the driving factors behind Skipton being a perfectly balanced place to live?

Pillar 1: Representation & proper sizing of independent & chain retailers

Skipton’s historic High Street is home to an array of independent shops, boutiques and local businesses, which are complemented by national retailers such as M&S and WHSmith, clothing retailers like Next and Phase Eight, and health and beauty retailers like The Body Shop and Boots.

On the cusp of Yorkshire Dales National Park with hiking and cycling trails galore, the High Street of this historic market town also offers an array of outdoor clothing and equipment specialist retailers such as Chevin Cycles, Trespass, Regatta Great Outdoors and Mountain Warehouse.

Pillar 2: Uniquely tailored offline experiences

One of Skipton’s standout features is its weekly farmers and crafts market that offers a variety of locally sourced, traditional produce and handmade goods. All the stalls are run by local Yorkshire businesses, which generates a lively community atmosphere in and around the town. On Saturdays, locals can stroll through Skipton Market lining both sides of the High Street, establishing itself as a vital player in the town’s overall shopping experience and offerings.

History aficionados can also visit Skipton Castle, a remarkably preserved medieval castle where the Fattorini family— jewellers and creators of the Football Association Challenge Cup— continue to live to this day. Plaza Cinema is also popular with cinemagoers—a century-old, art deco, single-screen cinema that is the sole survivor of the town’s cinemas.

Skipton is also home to many small cafes and coffee shops (both independent and chains), pubs and restaurants.

Pillar 3: Engaging community infrastructure

In terms of amenities and services, Skipton houses nearly everything that would be expected from a town of its size, including both small and large supermarkets like Grape Tree Skipton and M&S, banks like Halifax, Barclays and NatWest, dry cleaners, furniture shops, charity shops and estate agents.

Skipton’s town hall is also situated near the castle, with a museum and gallery, a library and a small music amphitheatre just off the High Street.

Skipton Station is also a major force in the town’s infrastructure, with regularly scheduled direct commuter trains travelling to both Leeds and Bradford, and several London-bound trains daily.

Pillar 4: Support social cohesion through optimised residential design

Skipton features a wide variety of properties that are suitable for several types of people, ranging from large, detached houses to converted mill apartments, with terraced houses being especially prominent in the town. Families with children will find excellent educational opportunities available in the area, with several prestigious schools such as boys’ and girls’ grammar schools in the vicinity.

Pillar 5: Sufficient & accessible work opportunities for the local population

Although the Skipton Building Society is currently the largest employer in the area, the town’s largest industry is likely to be tourism. Train line connections to Leeds and Bradford have opened many additional job opportunities as well.

Pillar 6: Appealing open spaces for the community to dwell in

Being the gateway to the Dales, Skipton is home to plenty of green spaces. From inviting woodlands and walking paths situated behind Skipton Castle to impressive views accessible within a half-hour drive, Skipton and its vicinity has something for outdoor enthusiasts.

In the heart of the town is Aireville Park, a large open space packed with sporting facilities suited for football, tennis, netball and basketball, a wheel park catering to BMX, skateboarding and rollerblading, children’s play areas, a treetop high ropes course and a café. The park is also home to Skipton’s weekly parkrun and annual triathlon, Yorkshire and Humberside’s largest pool-based triathlon.

Fans of the Harry Potter film franchise will be pleased to know that scenes from “The Deathly Hallows” were shot at the top of Malham Cove, a short drive from Skipton, showing views across Malhamdale, down to Malham Village and Kirkby Malham. Scenes from the 1992 version film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” were also shot in Malham Cove.

In the opposite direction and of similar driving distance, the renowned Brontë sisters’ home in Haworth can be found. It is now one of the oldest literary societies worldwide and was converted into the Brontë Parsonage Museum in memory of the celebrated authors of classic literature.

Saltaire, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in the mid-19th century as a model Victorian village depicting life for workers in Sir Titus Salt’s textile mill, can also be reached from Skipton within half an hour’s drive. Visitors will find ornate and well-preserved houses, a church and public buildings surrounding a park to stroll through, with the namesake mill, Salt’s Mill, at the epicentre of the site.

Stay tuned for our next pick of a ‘perfectly balanced’ place to live in our upcoming blog.

To learn how our six property pillars can help ensure you are creating resilient places, please speak to one of our Placemaking and Property experts.

Why Reigate & Fleet are ‘perfectly balanced’ places to live

Posted on: 3 November 2023

In this second blog of our series looking at balanced locations, we focus on Reigate and Fleet. These two enchanting towns are brimming with rich history and exceptional greenery. A blend of nostalgia, tranquillity and friendliness, they are south of central London in Surrey and Hampshire counties, making them the closest to London on our list of balanced locations outlined in our report, “Six Pillars of Success: Building Resilient Places”. While inhabitants of both towns are proud to call them home, the criteria they achieved in our report reiterate the reasons why we consider them wonderful places to live.

If you have yet to read our blog that introduces these pillars, we consider a ‘perfectly balanced’ place to meet the following criteria:

House an appropriate mix of chain and independent retailers at optimal sizes
Supply unique offline experiences that address the needs of the community
Provide community infrastructure that supports day-to-day life
Offers residential properties that meet the community’s needs
Offers employment opportunities and flexible working spaces
Encourage time spent outdoors in green spaces

Pillar 1: Representation & proper sizing of independent & chain retailers

Reigate and Fleet both feature a myriad of national chains and independent retailers that take part in annual local activities and events.

In Reigate, national retailers like M&S and Boots are complemented by a range of independent retailers like The Vineking, a wine tasting and dining experience independent merchant, Art of Living, a family-run cook shop and showroom, and a handful of boutique gift shops like The Lemon Tree. Day-to-day convenience shopping is also supported by a large high-street Morrisons, which offers free parking.

Just under an hour from central London, you will find the town of Fleet, an ideal travel connection town for those who regularly commute into the city. Fleet Road, the town’s high street, features an array of independent shops and a mix of both independent and chain restaurants. Hart Shopping Centre houses several known brands and independent retailers. It hosts monthly craft markets that bring the community together to support local, independent businesses.

Pillar 2: Uniquely tailored offline experiences

Reigate has more restaurants than any market of its size, all of which are successful staples in the area. Just off Reigate High Street, you can find the Pilgrim Brewery, an independent retailer that is actively involved in our community’s sports teams and events, and is known among locals as a wonderful spot to gather and socialise.

Pan Asian chain restaurant, Banana Tree, recently opened its door to the Reigate community, joining the likes of Bills, Nando’s and Wagamama on the High Street to further enhance Reigate’s food and beverage offerings. Monte Forte also took up a fixed residency on Reigate High Street after trading from a pizza van that visited the town. After a cozy dinner or a day spent shopping on the High Street, locals can also catch a film at the local Everyman Cinema. With several independent pubs and even a couple of late-night venues catering to the night owls, Reigate’s independent retailers have something for everyone.

Reigate High Street is also involved in several national events throughout the year, from artisan, food and street markets to Pillage the Village around Halloween, an annual Christmas Fayre on Church Street, and most recently, Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park, which featured food stalls, live musicians and renowned chefs from around the country.

Popular cuisine in Fleet tends to be Italian and Indian, with several restaurants a notable hit with locals. For vegetarian options, The Greenhouse Fleet is an independent vegetarian cafe/restaurant with a strong environmental emphasis and diverse selection of palatable meals.

Zinc & Popworld and a variety of local pubs form Fleet’s leisure scene. For a cozy lakeside view and nautical atmosphere, locals can visit the Heron on the Lake pub. The recently redeveloped Hart Leisure Centre now offers a sports facility that doubles as a community gathering spot. For the town’s younger population, a recently opened virtual gaming experience arcade, Chimera VR, has quickly gained popularity.

Pillar 3: Engaging community infrastructure

Reigate’s array of yoga and Pilates studios along with a centrally located gym appeal to locals looking to stay in shape. Many companies or large groups also make use of Priory Park for outdoor fitness classes. To cover local essentials, Reigate houses a Royal Mail delivery office to the north of the High Street, a couple of dry cleaners and a key cutting shop, all of which cover local essentials. A launderette is also situated south of the High Street within a small parade of separate shops, and a Busy Bees nursery can also be found in this vicinity.

For a town of its size, Fleet’s array of amenities and services cater well to the needs of all ages of the local population. It’s home to a large leisure centre that comes with a pool, spaces for squash and indoor sports and a gym. Many of its eco shops like Fleet Scoop, a ‘Zero Waste’ community spirited and environmentally conscious shop along with other local gems that opened just before the Covid-19 pandemic have been warmly embraced by the community and have continued to perform well post-pandemic. There are also plenty of smaller rows of shops outside of the High Street, along with a number of hairdressers and nail salons catering to its residents’ beauty needs.

Pillar 4: Support social cohesion through optimised residential design

Housing in Reigate and Fleet is affordable for those that live in the area, as the higher than national average prices are reflected by respectively higher-than-average earnings. With plenty of private rentals to choose from and hundreds of newly built homes going up in the last few years.

At £1,147 per calendar month, private rentals in Reigate are 24% of average earnings, a smidge below the national average of 25%. Private rentals in Fleet equate to £1,095 per calendar month (or 21% of average earnings), also below the national average of 25%. Fleet has also seen 815 new homes built in the last five years– a growth rate of 4.8% which sits above the national average of 3.8% in the same period.

Fleet has experienced organic growth and periodic development in its housing market. Approximately every 20 years, a new housing development has emerged, including the likes of Ancells Farm Nature Reserve, Zebon Copse, Church Crookham, Elvetham Heath, and the currently under construction Edenbrook. Each estate has brought new retail and food & beverage opportunities with it, such as pubs, community centres, supermarkets, parks and cafes.

Pillar 5: Sufficient & accessible work opportunities for the local population

Reigate and Fleet’s economies are both active, with only 1.7% of the population in both towns being unemployed (below the national average of 2.5%). Fleet Services also employs many locals and acts as a stopover for those travelling from London and the East.

Fleet is home to many managers, directors and senior officials, with over 50% of the population in managerial, administrative and professional occupations. While it has historically been home to many commuters to London, it now houses several business parks, primarily occupied by Information Technology (IT) companies.

In Reigate, 46% of the population are in professional and technical occupations, with a higher-than-average 17% in service industries. There are thousands of companies and hundreds of medium-large-sized businesses that locals can work for, including the UK and European head offices of Willis Towers Watson, Kimberly-Clark and Pfizer. While most local employers operate in the private sector, there are public sector opportunities available in the local Council and NHS Trust.

Pillar 6: Appealing open spaces for the community to dwell in

Reigate’s Priory Park just off the High Street offers a great open space to tire the kids out either at the skate park, playground or by strolling along the lake or through the woods. The park hosts many events, including a free park run every Saturday morning that draws in upwards of 200 locals each weekend. It also hosts sporting events like local kids’ football teams, bringing together the community to the town centre.

Fleet’s lush greenery similarly draws in locals– at the heart of the town lies Fleet Pond, connecting various parts of Fleet. The town’s younger population is also catered to through open spaces such as a skatepark in the local park, The Views.

To learn how our six property pillars can help ensure you are creating resilient places, please speak to one of our Placemaking and Property experts.

Dimensions Suite

Defining ‘perfectly balanced’ places to live through Six Pillars of Success

Posted on: 2 October 2023

What makes a place ‘perfectly balanced’?

Only 1.5% of locations across the UK can be described as balanced across all pillars. We set out to find these locations and determine what sets them apart in our report, “Six Pillars of Success: Building Resilient Places”, where we explored locations across the UK that are “balanced” in all six of CACI’s property pillars that contribute to the resilience of both community and place. Over 5,000 locations across the UK were assessed in this report, of which only 77 were considered balanced across all pillars.

Interestingly, only 1 in 20 regional towns in the UK are balanced. This demonstrates that despite achieving perfect balance in some places, there is still a lot that can be done for places to enhance their community engagement.

In this blog series, we’ll uncover the defining criteria for ‘perfectly balanced’ places and find out how these communities’ tactics can be applied to other locations across the UK.

Pillar 1: Representation & proper sizing of independent & chain retailers

Having retailers that ensure a return on investment for occupiers and effectively appeal to locals’ needs along with proper leasing of a retailer in terms of its tenant line-up are critical to an area’s success. A ‘perfectly balanced’ place achieves a balance between chain retailers to boutique shops and independent retailers by understanding the core of their community’s personalities and values and reflecting that in the area’s retailers.

Pillar 2: Uniquely tailored offline experiences

Unique offline experiences are ones that are only available in person and cannot be replicated at home. A place that is ‘perfectly balanced’ will host things to see and do for customers to do in person that come with halo benefits and contribute to the overall liveliness of the area and can only be experienced in person. The results will be achieved through an uptake of dwell time, varied footfall patterns, greater customer spending and more.

Pillar 3: Engaging community infrastructure

The types of amenities and services offered in an area can play a vital role in enhancing social value and community engagement. A ‘perfectly balanced’ place has optimised its relationship between supply and demand across amenities to help commercial landlords plug gaps within the community and reinforce social value.

Pillar 4: Support social cohesion through optimised residential design

A lack of suitable housing can be damaging for an area. ‘Perfectly balanced’ places optimise their residential design to positively influence the community and create long-term value, income and footfall for developers. These places typically feature residential units that closely align with the needs of the community and offer the right types, tenures, sizes and price points to fill supply gaps

Pillar 5: Sufficient & accessible work opportunities for the local population

Communities need job opportunities for those looking for employment. Acute un- and under-employment can be damaging on both an individual and community-wide basis. In our post-pandemic world, 29% of the UK population work in hybrid roles, allowing them the option of splitting their work week between the office and home. A ‘perfectly balanced’ place offers working opportunities that reflect the demand levels of the area and increasingly include collaborative, co-working spaces.

Pillar 6: Appealing open spaces for the community to dwell in

To drive footfall to a location, a ‘perfectly balanced’ place draws people into spending their leisure time there. It will be conveniently located, offer appealing services and amenities and encourage dwelling and exploring. With an increased interest in greening urban environments and finding pockets of greenery in even the most unexpected spots, ‘perfectly balanced’ places will offer luscious open spaces that are built sustainably and encourage biodiversity and carbon capture.

Stay tuned for our upcoming blog featuring the first two of our top five ‘perfectly balanced’ places to live.

To learn how our six property pillars can help ensure you are creating resilient places, please speak to one of our Placemaking and Property experts.

How the Duchy of Cornwall is using data-driven insights to support their forward strategy in Nansledan

Posted on: 22 June 2023

Background

Nansledan is a new community being built on the eastern edge of the coastal town of Newquay in Cornwall, England. Over the last decade, the Duchy of Cornwall has acted as master developer and landowner of the development, creating an already vibrant community which will eventually include c4,000 homes, job opportunities and diversification of the local economy to sustainably meet Newquay’s current and future needs.

To bring the vision of a successful and thriving new community to life, the masterplan for Nansledan includes a new town centre, known to the Duchy of Cornwall as “Market Street”. To facilitate the progress an introduction was therefore made to CACI, to demonstrate the breadth of data and consultancy expertise that could be offered to support the forward strategy of Market Street.

The Challenge

To answer questions around the scale and mix of spaces within the Market Street plans, it was clear that data-driven insights would also be helpful in shaping the forward strategy.

The Duchy of Cornwall also wanted to understand what role Nansledan might play within the wider Cornish market and how complementary offers could be provided so as not to compete with Truro, Newquay and Padstow.

The Solution

CACI’s initial report has now been completed and was presented to the Duchy of Cornwall in February 2023. It has already been helpful in shaping the forward strategy for the first phase of Market Street and will continue to inform the scale and the mix of space that comes forward across Market Street and Nansledan over the coming years.

The Duchy of Cornwall now has a much clearer understanding of Nansledan’s catchment area from both a resident and tourist perspective around demographics, spending habits and spending potential. In turn, this is expected to help in the positioning of Market Street within its local and regional market and will hopefully assist with ensuring its long-term commercial success.

The Future

While Market Street is yet to be developed, the work undertaken by CACI so far has helped to shape the Duchy of Cornwall’s forward strategy and will continue to feed into the design of the remaining phases of Market Street, as well as other commercial centres that were planned across Nansledan.

Further advice is expected as the development progresses and wider market influences take shape in order for the Duchy of Cornwall to continue to position Market Street appropriately for Nansledan’s growing population, as well as that of other local towns and villages. Using data-led insights on an ongoing basis is seen as increasingly important given the wider context of struggling retail centres around the country and in trying to ensure a vibrant and thriving centre at Nansledan.

Read the full customer story here. For more information on how our data and solutions can support your business growth please get in touch with us.

How InSite helped Knight Frank navigate real estate & capital investment

Posted on: 21 April 2023

About Knight Frank

For over 20 years, Knight Frank has partnered with CACI to achieve a long-term vision of becoming the world’s leading independent property advisor. Knight Frank works with various industries and businesses on their property and location planning strategies. Accessibility to reliable and accurate information to successfully serve clients and the ability to build authority as a market leading commercial agent have remained at the business’ core throughout.

Despite Knight Frank’s wider recognition for its work within residential property, the business is evenly split between residential and commercial real estate. In recent years, the general climate surrounding realty has become increasingly challenging, with macroeconomic conditions weighing heavily on this industry globally, particularly in terms of capital market investments. To manoeuvre these challenges, Knight Frank has been using CACI’s GIS software, InSite, along with various CACI datasets such as Acorn, the UK’s leading geodemographic segmentation tool.

The Challenge

Knight Frank’s primary challenges have been twofold:
• Determine how to navigate ongoing global uncertainty in the real estate industry.
• Handle volatility in capital investment markets.

Stephen Springham, Head of Retail Research at Knight Frank, elaborated on the impact that these challenges have had on the business.

Stephen explained:

Capital market investment is key to real estate markets and obviously that is probably at the sharpest end of economic sentiment. Investor sentiment isn’t sky high at the moment, so that is probably the biggest barrier we have to overcome, although we’re probably not radically different from most global companies in that regard.

The Solution

CACI’s InSite software has significantly supported Knight Frank’s business endeavours through both the nationwide insight from Acorn, as well as the shopper understanding from the machine-learning
catchment model, Retail Footprint. “It’s a window to the world of data. A lot of those datasets are bespoke and unique to CACI,” Stephen explained.

Additionally, CACI’s business consultancy solutions and thought leadership have been supporting Knight Frank in improving their overall business functions by supplying the business with the necessary tools to effectively advise retailers and support due diligence regarding buying and selling within the capital market.

The Results

According to Stephen, there has been a noticeable uptake across the business in data usage, with several transactions on shopping centres Knight Frank completed over the course of last year that were achieved
thanks to the support of CACI’s data and InSite tool.

One of the business’ recent and most notable acquisitions came in 2021, with Knight Frank acting for Redical in the purchase of the Victoria Gate/Victoria Quarter Shopping Centre in Leeds. This £120-million deal was executed in part through a deep dive of data provided by CACI’s InSite tool.

The Future

While Knight Frank continues to have an open dialogue with CACI on any new developments or datasets that could continue to support the business’ initiatives, CACI’s InSite and data have created a notable foundation.

Read the full customer story here. For more information on how our data and solutions can support your business growth please get in touch with us.

Brand Dimensions

How cost of living is impacting the Elderly Care & Senior Living market

Posted on: 14 February 2023

How does a challenging economy affect consumer choices and priorities that shape the UK market for elderly care?

It’s no surprise that the cost of living squeeze is having an impact on elderly care operators. Private residential and domestic care cost money: consumers are looking for ways to economise. Older people want and need comfort and care as much as ever, but they and their families are tightening their belts. Inevitably, they’re considering the cost of different care settings and options.

What does this mean for residential and domiciliary care providers? It’s early days, but as for every other consumer sector, you need to be prepared for the market to change. A proactive approach to understanding current and future customers and modelling potential demand in your locations can uncover opportunities to maintain occupancy and optimise your services to match evolving priorities and needs.

If you don’t have a crystal ball to hand, that may sound like a tall order. But knowing and anticipating market demand in your locations doesn’t depend on magic or guesswork. Consumer and location data together provide reliable evidence that can help you identify ways to stay relevant, accessible and financially stable.

Not all groups are impacted to the same extent by the rising costs of living. The majority of Acorn Groups still have a sizeable disposable income despite the recent 5% average fall.
Source: CACI Paycheck Disposable Income 2022 v2

Despite the bleak headlines, the economic impact varies considerably for different household types and in different areas. Many older consumers still have savings, disposable income or assets that allow them to choose the care they want. If you can understand the profile of your current and future customers in detail, it’s easier to identify and reach out to local prospects.

Location intelligence data is a well-established source of insight for care home operators and domestic care providers that are considering expansion or new sites. Mapping the age and affluence of the local population in a potential catchment helps to indicate where there’s likely demand for elderly care services.

But alongside age and income, there’s a lot of more subtle data that can help you market your existing services, confirm or reshape your propositions, benchmark your pricing and adjust the range and type of services you offer. This type of insight is extremely useful in a fast-changing market.

CACI data insight can answer crucial questions about your customers and market:

• What are the characteristics of your local and target customers?
Acorn profiling groups UK consumers by affluence, life stage and priorities
• What are your current and potential customers thinking, feeling and intending to do differently?
Quarterly Consumer insight surveys of the UK population
• How has customer spending on different outgoings changed?
Transactional spending data shows the split of spend with different brands and operators
• Whose disposable income is affected?
Postcode model of income in different locations, showing how it’s being spent.
• What’s around the corner?
Dynamic modelling forecasts what could happen to consumer spending if inflation, fuel and other costs rise in a range of different ways

CACI’s current disposable income model reflects the changes we’ve observed in the last few months. Although all households are affected by rising costs, the majority of our Acorn consumer profile groups still have a significant disposable income. It’s groups like Student Life and City Sophisticates that have seen the largest decline, driven by property costs.

There has been major growth in spend on private healthcare, with a wide range of demographics prioritising health over other non-essential spending.
Source: CACI Transactional Spend, June 2022

For elderly care operators, it’s encouraging to note that Comfortable Seniors, Countryside Communities and Successful Suburbs, who are likely to form far more of the target market, have some of the highest levels of disposable income, reflecting smaller or non-existent mortgages, good pensions and comfortable savings accrued over previous years.

Spending on private healthcare has increased in the past year. The Covid-19 pandemic and concerns about NHS waiting lists are driving this change in priorities for households across most Acorn groups. Despite rising essential costs, many consumers now regard healthcare expenditure as a necessity, not a luxury. This could have a positive impact on perceptions of value in elderly care.

These are just the headlines from our latest national data. Every elderly care provider has a different operating model and works in unique locations. CACI’s health and social care team can select data and build customised reports that directly reflect the opportunities and changes happening in your catchment areas today and tomorrow. For mid-sized operators, it’s vital decision-making information to inform strategy and tactical decisions that will help your business compete and thrive in a challenging economy.

We can help you:
• Continuously analyse, monitor and adapt – stay ahead of policy and new competitors when finding new customers and recruits
• Tailor marketing engagement and recruitment key messages to reflect the requirements of local potential pools of customers and staff
• Understand your staff and customer base and how its segments are impacted by different cost of living challenges, to identify risk and opportunity
• Tailor your offer to changing consumer and staff requirements

CACI’s specialist elderly care and senior living team work with clients in the UK and internationally to help them improve operational and financial performance with access to vital insights into their customers, employees and locations.

To find out more, contact us.

The growth of online: a surprising pivot in 2023

Posted on: 13 February 2023

Over the last three years, we have seen a more significant shift in consumer habits than we could have imagined. Currently challenged by the rising cost of living and an economy in recession, the post-pandemic spending bubble was cut much shorter than initially anticipated by economists.

Like everyone in January, CACI reflected on the last few years, and as part of this, we revisited predictions that we made during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Consumer behaviour changed significantly in the space of several days, triggered by widespread temporary store closures during the lockdowns. Some stores were never able to reopen; whilst online platforms boomed, in light of these significant behavioural shifts, CACI rebuilt predictions to reflect this new normal.

How close were CACI’s consumer online spending predictions to actual results?

Mirroring our spend predictions, a phrase we maintained at CACI at the time was that “online spend jumped forwards five years in one month”. What we have come to realise was that three years on, these spend predictions, shown in the below chart, highlighting a return to in-store, were very close to the true picture.

How can CACI track consumer online spend behaviour?

CACI can unpick these new trends in spend behaviour using our new and exciting tool kit of Spend Dimensions and Brand Dimensions, which tracks over 200 shopping centres and 300 brands across the UK.

What we can see demonstrated in the above chart is a post-pandemic slump in online spend as a proportion of total spend. In 2023, online spend falls to 38%, before gradually rising again in the preceding years.

Whilst the current split in online and offline engagement provides us with an overall national average, it is important not to expect all shoppers to follow suit. We have seen asset type, product category, brand, region and demographics all play a big part in the extent to which a shopper might engage online.

Who is most likely to shop online?

Demographically, the split between those engaging in-store and online has become less distinct, highlighting the closing of the digital gap between young and old, with the difference between online market share across all groups dropping from 10% to 5% over the last year.

However, the big picture doesn’t change. Key online shoppers continue to be younger shoppers across the affluence spectrum as well as more affluent shoppers, likely driven by greater access to e-commerce platforms and the ability to afford delivery costs.

How does this vary by product category?

The recent shift back towards in-store engagement isn’t clear-cut and does vary by product category. CACI expectations were that the drivers of the overall return to the store would be clothing and footwear, household and health & wellness brands. This has been the general spend trend that we’ve been seeing across the UK since 2020.

The variation by category gets further exacerbated by the time of year. For example, comparing the months of October to December 2021 and 2022 in the chart below, there was a clear shift for household and kids’ goods spend to in-store, likely driven by the desire to experience before purchasing. Whereas, General Retail painted an interesting picture within the final quarter of 2022. Both in 2020 and 2021, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday taking place in November, Christmas hit online earlier than in-store, boosting online’s share of the market temporarily. In December, our Christmas survey reiterated this sentiment, with over half of those shopping online citing a main drive of this being concern with the rising cost of living and saving money, whereas over half of those shopping in-store did so for the experience. The experience-focused, in-store shoppers drove the resurgence year-on-year of in-store spend in December.

What does the return to in-store mean for retailers?

Across the 300 brands we tracked, many pure online brands are experiencing a decline in market share, in-store brands have typically performed well, and those blended brands have seen a shift towards a greater in-store market share. The power of the store can be seen through brands such as Decathlon, Nespresso, Build-A-Bear and Denby, who have all shifted to greater reliance on the store over the last quarter. In comparison, online disrupter brands such as Vinted and Shein which thrived through the year began to see a drop off.

What does the future of consumer online spending behaviours look like?

Whilst 2022 did represent a return to bricks and mortar, we are still at least a year ahead of where we would have been if the pandemic hadn’t happened. We expect to see continued growth in both on and offline retail spend, although proportionally online spend will increase.

However, it is undoubtedly true that we are currently, and will continue to, experience unexpected macroeconomic challenges which will impact different brands and destinations in different ways. Brands can no longer rely on their name as we have seen with the casualties of too many well-known landlords and retailers. Therefore, making informed decisions through the use of CACI data will help retain a competitive advantage and stand out from the market.

To learn more about how CACI can help your brand navigate changing consumer spending habits, get in touch with us here.

How CACI supported Landsec track performance through 2020

Posted on: 13 October 2021

The challenge

The opportunity for Landsec to re-engage customers and their spend as we emerge from the pandemic is substantial. 2020 saw the greatest level of consumer disruption ever seen in living memory with mandatory retail and leisure closures, stay at home orders, and schools and offices closing.

Landsec’s key questions included; who is driving performance, where they are coming from, how much are they spending per category, what they are doing in centre, and how are they engaging ? This helped the Landsec team identify why guests have reengaged and how to influence future behaviours. Tracking information was also used to provide the data points needed to allow Landsec to measure ROI on marketing and leasing activity.

The solution

CACI’s solution used transactional spend and mobile data to track real life actual behaviour in the centre. Mobile data looks at GPS tracking from mobile apps and helped Landsec understand the visitation patterns.

Transactional spend data is derived from credit and debit card spend data from multiple sources, including top UK retail bank and credit card companies. Again, this data was used alongside CACI’s data sources to and understand which categories and brands were driving spend and transactional changes.

Catchment spend for all the centres was also tracked using the transactional spend data, as well as a valuable indication of online spending for the centres’ shoppers.

The benefits

The data was used by the Landsec centre teams to fully understand the immediate impacts of the pandemic and how the centres performed over this period. In addition the research gave them an understanding of how best to react to the easing of future lockdowns in 2021. The research is now being rolled out across the whole of 2021, to track performance on a regular basis for some of Landsec’s key assets.

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