Frome shopping habits revealed!

Surveys undertaken in 2010 by market researchers show a remarkable loyalty to town centre shopping in Frome. With shopping habits in the news locally after a visit by Mary Portas & her subsequent report advising the government on strategies to deal with town centre decline, plus the ongoing discussions over what is needed on the Saxonvale development site, these make particularly interesting reading.

Total comparison (non-food) spend in Frome is £84.9 million (in 2010) - For the Frome area the biggest percentage of non-food spending is done in the town centre, at 36.7% (£36 million). Details are here.

Interesting statistics are in clothing & footwear spending patterns which show that only a slightly lower percentage of clothes shopping is done in the town in total (27%, with £4.4 million spent in the town centre) than in Bath (32%). Details here.

The majority of our soft furnishings shopping takes place in Frome town centre (34%), followed by Bristol, Bath & Trowbridge - see details. When it comes to Books, CDs, Jewellery, Gifts, China, Glass, 25% of this is done in the town centre at a value of £2.44 million, with Asda taking an additional 18%, details here. For health, beauty and chemist items 63% are bought in Frome town centre = £7.7 million spend!, with 25% done in edge of town stores. Details.

Annual convenience goods spending (food, alcohol, non-durable household goods & newspapers) per household in Frome is estimated at £1720, of which 70% is food. As expected, Asda & Sainsbury's take the greatest percentage of convenience shopping in Frome at 32% or £18 million each.  Frome town centre takes 11% of trade (at £6.2 million) & 8% of food shopping is done in 'other' stores in the Frome area (includes Tesco Extra, Culverhill Co-op & McColls). Details here.

Vacancy rates in the town have stabilised at around 8-9%, more healthy that the average figure currently for town centres. Check out the shops in Frome and rate them in the Shopping Directory.

NEMS Market Research, who undertook the survey work in 2010 say "Effective market research isn't just about asking questions. It's about asking the right, unbiased questions to really get inside people's heads. NEMS Market Research are specialists in creating questions which work that little bit harder and delve that little bit deeper to bring your organisation real, actionable results."  Their website gives a case study showing a typical household retail study and explains types of survey & methodologies.

So to summarise;

Overall non-food shopping - 37% in town centre, 14% internet/markets, 13% Bath, 11% Trowbridge, 10% edge of town, 15% elsewhere. A majority of Frome people use the town centre for leisure goods, electrical goods, furnishings, health, DIY & the town centre is second choice for clothes & specialist items (after Bath & internet respectively).

In order of total spend (greatest first);

Clothing - 32% Bath, 27% Frome area (19% Frome town centre, 7% edge of town), 14% internet, 11% Trowbridge, 8% Bristol & Street, 9% elsewhere.

Leisure goods - 41% Frome town centre, 21% internet, 12% Bath, 7% Trowbridge, 7% Asda & other Frome stores, 12% elsewhere.

Electrical good - 35% Frome town centre, 21% Trowbridge, 20% internet, 9% Asda & other Frome stores, 15% elsewhere.

Furniture/furnishings - 34% Frome, 14% Bristol, 14% Bath, 13% Trowbridge, 8% Shepton Mallet, 17% elsewhere.

Health - 63% Frome town centre, 26% edge of town, 3% Bath, 8% elsewhere.

DIY/decorating - 64% Frome town centre, 16% Trowbridge, 8% Wessex Fields, 3% Bath, 9% elsewhere.

Specialist items/gifts - 30% internet/markets, 25% Frome town centre, 18% Asda, 9% Bath, 7% Sainsbury's, 7% elsewhere.

Food shopping, 65% edge of town, 19% town centre & other small stores, remaining 16% in other towns (Warminster (5%), Trowbridge (4%) & Bradford on Avon (2%))

Food shopping ranking is Asda (33%), Sainsbury's (32%), town centre (11%), other smaller Frome stores (8%). NB. None of the big stores are 'overtrading' & planning policy states that no more supermarkets are required.

Statistics on Frome people shopping in Trowbridge = 21% of electrical goods shopping, 16% of DIY, 13% of furnishings, 11% of clothes shopping, 7% of leisure goods, 4% of food shopping. And finally internet shopping takes - 30% of specialist shopping, 21% of leisure goods, 20% of electrical, 14% of clothes.