Pedestrian frequency

The survival of urban centers after Corona

This summer, city centers and pedestrian zones are filling up again. After months of lockdown, normality is gradually returning and footfall is increasing.

 

Evaluations by the EHI Retail Institute based on measurements by the specialist Hystreet in selected top pedestrian zones show that footfall in the second lockdown was only 10 to 20% of the pre-crisis level in some cases. After the stores reopened in June, the figures were generally 70 to 80% of the comparable figures for 2019. These figures appear to be slowly improving over the summer months. Although city tourism is only slowly picking up, many people seem to have some catching up to do and are flocking to the cities to store. This is also desperately needed for bricks-and-mortar retailers.

The trend towards online shopping has been causing problems for retailers for some time now. The coronavirus lockdown acted as an accelerant.

It is known that the last remaining department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is continuing to withdraw from the area. The latest closure plan affects or has affected around 50 department stores. This is a bitter pill for the towns and districts affected, as department stores are first-class traffic generators. The most important attraction in the shopping streets has been lost.

 

The fashion industry has been hit hard. Here, business is shifting particularly quickly to e-commerce. Some chain stores are making headlines in 2020 and 2021 with store closures or are even facing insolvency. These include well-known names such as Runners Point, Esprit, Adler, Sinn Leffers and Bonita. Insolvency plan proceedings often ensure survival by helping to get out of expensive rental agreements and reduce the number of stores, sometimes drastically.

Latest news: Ceconomy announces the closure of 13 Media-Markt and Saturn stores. Well-known brands such as Maredo and Vapiano have also been affected in the catering sector.

It will be interesting to see how cities, together with retailers and restaurants, succeed in attracting people back to city centers or district centers. The experience and the offer must be right. Vacancies should be avoided if at all possible. Because only a high footfall will bring customers into the stores.

 

Footfall is an important indicator in the real estate industry, particularly for the retail sector. Either a specific number of passers-by at a Street segment per time unit is specified or a location quality/quality class is indicated, which results from the number of passers-by and possibly other factors. But how do you determine pedestrian frequency? There are basically two approaches here.

Counts

Jones Lang LaSalle, for example, has been carrying out manual people counts on certain key dates for many years. However, the results can be influenced by factors such as the weather, the time of year or factors such as public festivals, construction sites, etc.

Automated counts, e.g. with laser scanners - as mentioned above by Hystreet - allow continuous measurement and determination of very reliable average values. However, both methods have the disadvantage that they can only be carried out at a limited number of measuring points, such as the top shopping streets in Germany's largest cities.

Mobility models

Here, pedestrians are not counted but modeled in complex models that take into account socio-demographic data, figures on workplaces, schools and shopping facilities and traffic data. Such models rely on the spatial potential for starting areas (residential) and destination areas (shopping, working) and knowledge of transport options in order to cover the expected traffic and pedestrian flows across the board for urban and rural areas. They even go one step further and use statistical knowledge of the areas of origin and destination to make statements about the respective target groups and the purpose of the journey. The Swiss provider Senozon is well known for this. Its data can be obtained via Nexiga and has the advantage that it is available nationwide and covers both urban and rural areas.

 

The Nexiga Pedestrian Frequency Atlas is based on detailed knowledge of where which traffic generators are positioned. Retail, gastronomy and also relevant service providers that attract customers or visitors are included in the modeling. Information on street types (e.g. pedestrian zones), parking lots and train stations is also included. Over 300,000 locations of the 800 leading chain stores from ALDI to Deutsche Bank, the Nexiga Topshops, have a particular influence on the model.

 

All street segments in Germany are evaluated using a pedestrian frequency indicator. This is based on the points of interest (POIs) weighted by type and size on the individual road segments. Data sets are available for the Nexiga street segments (KGS36) as well as for TomTom or OpenStreetMap street segments. We show the indicator in categories from 0 (no pedestrian frequency) to 10 (very high pedestrian frequency, i.e. 1A location). Good and poorly frequented locations can therefore be quickly identified. This database has therefore proved particularly useful for location analyses in the retail sector.

 

Frequency data is also available for Europe. Together with Walkabout Consulting, the Nexiga Ped estrian Frequency Atlas (PFA) was developed, which provides key figures on pedestrian frequency on all European road sections based on OSM road sections. This provides a valuable and standardized decision-making basis for store network planning throughout Europe. Closely linked to pedestrian frequency are the consumer focal points, which we have already presented in another blog post.

The Nexiga Pedestrian Frequency Atlas is based on detailed knowledge of where which traffic generators are positioned. Retail, gastronomy and also relevant service providers that attract customers or visitors are included in the modeling. Information on street types (e.g. pedestrian zones), parking lots and train stations is also included. Over 300,000 locations of the 800 leading chain stores from ALDI to Deutsche Bank, the Nexiga Topshops, have a particular influence on the model.

 

All street segments in Germany are evaluated using a pedestrian frequency indicator. This is based on the points of interest (POIs) weighted by type and size on the individual road segments. Data sets are available for the Nexiga street segments (KGS36) as well as for TomTom or OpenStreetMap street segments. We show the indicator in categories from 0 (no pedestrian frequency) to 10 (very high pedestrian frequency, i.e. 1A location). Good and poorly frequented locations can therefore be quickly identified. This database has therefore proved particularly useful for location analyses in the retail sector.

 

Frequency data is also available for Europe. Together with Walkabout Consulting, the Nexiga Ped estrian Frequency Atlas (PFA) was developed, which provides key figures on pedestrian frequency on all European road sections based on OSM road sections. This provides a valuable and standardized decision-making basis for store network planning throughout Europe. Closely linked to pedestrian frequency are the consumer focal points, which we have already presented in another blog post.

 

The Pedestrian Frequency Atlas (PFA ) is a unique, international and directly applicable indicator. It is also comparable across countries, calibrated to real data and calculated on OSM road sections. There are no unnecessary costs for additional licenses.

 

A conscientious environmental and market analysis is the basis for successful location and store planning. With the market data from Nexiga Business we offer all the relevant decision-making aids for strategically sensible placement.

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