Royal retail reception

According to CBS Outdoor, the total retail sales in London are the highest of any capital city in the world. How high? How about 62 billion POUNDS per year. That’s 94 BILLION Australian or US dollars – each and every year. Now New York must be close. But New York hasn’t had the same family living in the city centre for almost one thousand years.

The 94 billion dollars was generated in a year when there was no royal wedding, Jubilee or other royal event which only come around about once every 10 years. Will and Kate’s matching was always going to be a big gig and spending would be pushed even higher. But when it actually happened it was bigger than anybody had expected, or planned for.

My daughter, who is living in London and was only a mile from some of the action, decided to watch the event on television because the crowds were too deep for her to see it live. In Hyde Park, the City of London was expecting 100 thousand people to watch on the big screens, but more than 300 thousand people turned up from around the world.

The scale of the event was driven by the Government, country and city, along with every ‘complementor’ industry – from travel to dining – which all came on board and used their mass communication budgets to tell the world that Old London Town would be the place to be in late April 2011. If you couldn’t get there to see the wedding and buy Will and Kate mugs or jewellery, then you could watch it live on TV or via internet feed, which is what one third of the planet chose to do.

I sat in front of a TV with my mum and dad in Wales, texting my wife and son in Sydney and my daughter in London, who were in front of their TVs and PCs. While watching the broadcast, people logged on and ordered whatever memorabilia they wanted from the comfort of their PC or smartphone and had it shipped to their home, hotel or the address of the recipient of their gift.

So if an average week’s retail sales in London is about one billion pounds, allowing for uplifts in mid year, Christmas and New Year’s sales – how much was the uplift in the weeks before and after the wedding?

Based upon what I saw in stores, streets, the tube, at rail stations and at the airport, there had to be at least five times more people who had chosen to visit over that 14 day period. So let’s say they were just spending the average amount of a normal shopper, which we know is conservative for event memorabilia shopping. We wouldn’t think of paying $35 for a baseball cap, but we will if we’re actually at the game watching the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. In fact, when we’re actually at events and making our decision to purchase, we shop like a thing possessed and let price go out the window. What value do we place on the memory and the bragging rights?

So five times more at retail for two weeks is an extra eight billion pounds, or 12 billion dollars, spent in retail in London because of the royal wedding. Not spending on cab fares, hotels, flights, train tickets or restaurants. Just retail “stuff”. And the UK Government clip the ticket at 20% retail sales tax, and receive 1.4 billion pounds as its share. Who said royalty are a financial drain on a country?

Now, if we can just get Will’s baby bro Harry and Kate’s baby sis Pippa up the aisle at the Abbey in a couple of years time, we should be on for another bumper spending spree!

In his role as CEO of CROSSMARK, Kevin Moore looks at the world of retailing from grocery to pharmacy, bottle shops to car dealers, corner store to department stores. In this insightful blog, Kevin covers retail news, ideas, companies and emerging opportunities in Australia, NZ, the US and Europe. His international career in sales and marketing has seen him responsible for business in over 40 countries, which has earned him grey hair and a wealth of expertise in international retailers and brands. CROSSMARK Asia Pacific is Australasia’s largest provider of retail marketing services, consulting to and servicing some of Australasia’s biggest retailers and manufacturers.