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Poulton le Fylde Market - supporting the local economy

ROI Team

May 2015

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POULTON LE FYLDE MARKET

Background

As part of the current Mission for Markets initiative, ROI Team was commissioned by the National Association of British Market Authorities (Nabma) to carry out original research in 6 UK markets to investigate the economic contribution of the markets to their towns and communities. Markets are often overlooked as significant contributors to the retail economy, largely because of the lack of solid information about their performance and contribution. ROI Team carried out primary research (detailed below) during February and March 2015 at the following markets: Ashton under Lyne, Market Harborough, Poulton le Fylde, Keswick, Plymouth and Kingston Ancient Market. The six markets we worked in illustrate the huge range of market types in the UK by size, structure, and style of offer. We have designated Poulton le Fylde as an Open Town Square Market. A breakdown of the types of stalls can be found later in this document in figure 14.

Poulton le Fylde has been a market town since post-medieval times. But the C19th growth of nearby seaside towns of Blackpool and Fleetwood triggered a long period of commercial decline for Poulton and eventually the closure of the market. In 2011 Wyre Borough Council re-opened an outdoor market on Mondays in the town square,

and the market has enjoyed good support from local people and visitors alike. Initial objections

from adjacent shopkeepers have given way to a growing realisation that the market is leading a

commercial recovery in Poulton, with formerly vacant shops on the town square now returning

into use. The reborn Poulton Market was created and initially staffed by Wyre Council Markets

Manager, Julian Brent, which kept charges low during its development period. Once the market

found its feet after 12 months it was possible to engage a Market Supervisor

The open aspect of the market makes footfall counting difficult. But parking records suggest that the presence of the market on Mondays has transformed Mondays from the quietest day of the week for the town into the most supported. The market is open every Monday from 9am to 4.30pm, and currently supports some 45 stalls with only a small number of vacancies. Poulton Market is close to the much bigger and better known Fleetwood Market, and more than half of Poulton customers also visit Fleetwood Market.

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Objectives

Build understanding of the profile of market customers.

Customer shopping and spending habits for market shopping.

Understand how Traders contribute to their local economy and how they could do more.

Estimate revenue generated by Poulton le Fylde Market by triangulating spend levels

projected from customer spend with aggregation of per stall turnover.

Research Approach

To produce reliable turnover projections, we undertook 4 related pieces of work.

Survey of Market customers and visitors

Classic survey of real- time customers intercepted in the market, using a pre agreed

questionnaire. In this market fieldwork took place on Monday 22rd February, during market

trading hours and in wintry weather conditions.

Depth Interviews with market traders

To derive a measure of per day turnover per stall, we conducted a programme of ‘Depth

Interviews’ with Traders, selected to represent the spectrum across the market’s offer.

Interview with market manager

We pre-arranged an interview, part questionnaire, part Depth Interview; part hard data, part

based on views and perceptions, with market manager Steve Schofield.

Footfall in the Market

To project monthly spend from our limited sample of market shoppers we need a measure of

footfall across the market. In the case of Poulton, the open nature of the market makes any

meaningful counting of footfall impossible. Therefore for this market projections of turnover are

based on intelligence from traders.

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Catchment Area

Figure 1

From the map above it can be seen that about half of market customers are local people travelling

less than 1.5 km to arrive at the market. Others, people who work in Poulton are travelling from

the range of nearby towns and villages. Other market visitors are toursists seeking local market as

a day trip.

SHOPPER PROFILE

Age and gender of visitors

Figure 2

Figure 3

Poulton is firmly dominated by female shoppers (almost three quarters) and showing a massive skew towards retired people. Two thirds of market shoppers are over 65, and remarkably less than 10% are below 45 years of age. This age group are great supporters of markets – but managers will need to work on recruitment of younger shoppers via stall selection and promotion.

Female 73%

Male 27%

2%

2%

4% 26% 67%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

18- 24 25-34 35-44 45-64 65+

Customer residence

Poulton Le Fylde Market

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Markets customers lifestyle profile

ACORN is a segmentation tool which categorises the UK’s population by lifestyle types based on residential postcodes. ACORN segments households and neighbourhoods into 5 Categories, 17 Groups and 59 Types. It provides detailed understanding of the consumer and lifestyle characteristics of people and places across the UK. By analysing significant social factors and population behaviour, it provides precise information and an in-depth understanding of the different types of people.

We collected a residential postcode from our survey respondents, enabling us to analyse the sample by lifestyle profile. In the table below we have compared the lifestyle profile for the Poulton le Fylde catchment (the black line) against the profile of people actually shopping the market (coloured bar lines) the graphic below indicates the spectrum of lifestyle types running from left (most affluent, highest lifestyle) to right (least affluent, socially constricted).

Poulton Market is massively over-recruiting from the types Mature Money and Comfortable Seniors. Other types such as Modest Means and Young Hardship are well represented in the catchment, but are not being attracted to the market. These two types, typically bargain-oriented shoppers, might help to redress the over-dependence on wealthy pensioners. Figure 4

Affluent Achievers Rising Prosperities Comfortable Communities

Financially Stretched Urban Adversity

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Poulten-Le-Fylde - customers Poulten-Le-Fylde catchment

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Household composition of Poulton le Fylde Market customers

Figure 5

More than a quarter of customers at Poulton Market are adults living alone, who tend to buy provisions on a day-by-day basis. This would suggest there would be an appetite for additional weekly market days, at least for household staples. Almost two thirds of customers are living as an adult couple.

Market customers employed status

Figure 6

The nature of the customer base is highlighted by the fact that fewer than 1 in 5 customers is in employment, with more than three quarters in retirement. None of our respondents identify as either homemakers of students, suggesting rich areas for future recruitment.

Customers’ Frequency of Visit

Figure 7

Poulton le Fylde Market has a very loyal customer base, with more than two thirds visiting every market day. With only a third visiting less frequently there is little scope to grow visiting among existing customers; growth would have to come from new customers in younger age groups.

28% 62% 9% 1%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

1 2 3 4+

Retired, 79%

Full time employed

, 11%

Part time employed,

6%

73%

16%

5% 6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

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Weekly Monthly Less than monthly

Only rarely

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Stalls visited and bought from

Figure 8

Poulton is known for market garden produce, and so the Fruit & Veg stalls are strongly

supported, attracting almost a quarter of all customers. Of all other stall categories, only Cards is

attracting more than 10%. Some cross promotions between F&V and other stalls might boost

support across the range. Support for lines such as Cold Food and Hot Food would be boosted

by a bigger proportion of younger customers.

Customer Spend

Figure 9

Although fewer than one customer in 10 leaves without spending anything, the vast majority, almost three quarters in fact, are spending less than £10 on their visit, and no one is spending more than £60. This results in an average per trip spend of £10.11, a bit disappointing for a weekly market of this size. Arrival of new customer types would likely boost the average spend.

23%

13%

8% 8% 8% 7% 7%

4% 4% 4% 4% 3% 3% 3%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

8% 71% 10% 6% 5%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Nothing £10 and under £10 - £25 £25 - £40 £40 - £60 £60 and over

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Are market visitors shopping elsewhere in town?

Figure 10 Figure 11

The rebirth of Poulton Market has been credited with leading the recovery of Poulton as a retail

town – and these results confirm that view. Three quarters of market customers intend to shop

in the town that day. As more than half intend to spend less than they do in the market, spend

levels sound meagre. That’s something for the shopkeepers to work on.

Saving customers every month

Figure 12

More than 4/5th of customers believe they are making a saving by shopping in the market. The

high proportion indicating a saving of less than £10 per month is really a reflection of the

modest spend levels.

Yes 73%

No 27%

More 36%

Less 53%

About the

Same 11%

72%

8% 1%

Spend in Market

less than £10 £20 to £30 More than £30

Do you spend more outside the Market?

market

Do you spend more outside the Market?

market

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Performance and Status of Poulton le Fylde Market

Figure 13

Poulton Market

Size of market stalls 39

Market days – per month 4

Wifi Available? No

Potential customers – per month No footfall count available

Average per trip customer spend £10.11

Average frequency of visit per month 2.92

Aggregate customer monthly spend £29.52

Aggregate per month market turnover £163,972

Aggregate annual market turnover £1.97m

The market is clearly popular and well supported, and importantly is generating a shade under

£2m for the local economy. With the market only meeting once a week it’s difficult for customers

to plan market shopping into their weekly shopping repertoire, and consequently average

monthly spend per customer is modest at just under £30 per month.

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Turnover per stall

We conducted Depth Interviews with a selection of Poulton le Fylde Market Traders, looking to

cover the full range of the market’s offer. We questioned Traders about the number of

customers served at their stall during a typical day, and the average transaction value. The

aggregate of these responses enables us to project typical per day spend for all stall types

standing in the market. In making our projections we excluded a small number of stalls that

declared a very low turnover level and appear not to be a commercial proposition. We also

adjusted the return for one stall where the trader information was improbably in excess of

equivalent stalls on the same market day.

In this market, because the open environment makes counting of footfall impossible, projections

of market turnover are based on intelligence of turnover per stall derived from traders.

Figure 14

Stall Groups Number of stalls in group

Stall group average

Per day revenue

Per month revenue

Bakery 3 £260 £780 £3,187

Fashionwear 5 £203 £1,013 £4,134

Fruit and Vegetables 4 £4,556 £18,225 £74,419

Groceries 2 £240 £481 £1,964

Household Goods & Textiles 6 £1,496 £8,978 £36,658

Jewellery and Watches 3 £403 £1,209 £4,937

Lingerie/Nightwear/ Hosiery 1 £281 £281 £1,148

Bags and Accessories 6 £348 £2,088 £8,526

Arts, Crafts and Gifts 1 £201 £201 £821

Books Magazines & Stationery 2 £1,553 £3,106 £12,683

Cafe/ Take Away 1 £288 £288 £1,176

Childrens goods and products 2 £108 £216 £882

Speciality 9 £366 £3,291 £13,437

TOTAL 45 £892 £40,156 £163,971

Most traders can expect to have a profitable day in Poulton Market, with the obvious exception of

the Children’s stalls. The Fruit & Veg stalls are very well supported and presumably other

traditional stalls such as a butcher and fresh fish stall would also thrive. Relatively weak categories

such as Children’s, Fashionwear, and Cafe/take away would all benefit from an increase in

younger family-oriented shoppers.

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Traders Contributing to the Local Economy

In the course of our Depth Interviews programme, we asked Poulton le Fylde traders how they

believe they contribute to the local economy, and how they could contribute more fully, given

the chance. We asked about their role in supporting training, entrepreneurship, apprenticeship

schemes, local supply contracts, input into the local business supply chains and much more.

In some markets it appeared that Traders were more engaged with local economic

enhancement than market management realised.

Employment/ Jobs Our business contributes to the local economy as we buy our products locally, we hire a driver

locally who delivers for us locally, so creating employment. We only have one van which

produces less carbon emissions.

Cold Food, Female, 30’s I am local. The driver who delivers is local so creating employment, and everything is pretty much

local in terms of products as well.

Cold Food, Male, 40’s

I cannot think of other ways we could contribute to the local community, as it’s too much work,

and youngsters don’t want to get into markets in this day and age. No one wants to do it.

Fruit and Veg, Male, 50s

Community Engagement

I contribute to the local economy by bringing a product to the local community that they cannot

get anywhere else in town.

Clothes stall, Male, 40’s

Contribution to the local economy

Our business contributes to the local economy by offering value for money, saving customers

money from what they pay in the shops

Paint stall, Female, Late 30’s

Our business contributes to the local economy, by sourcing ingredients locally, and therefore we

are supporting local businesses.

Cold Food, Male, 40’s

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MARKET CONTRIBUTING TO THE LOCAL ECONOMY

We conducted an extended interview with Market Supervisor, Steve Schofield. He is forthright about the impressive contribution of the market to restoring the commercial standing of Poulton le Fylde as a town.

The market brings people to Poulton on Mondays; in addition they are spending more time in shops and cafes. It used to be dead on Mondays, now Monday is the busiest day, it’s busier than Saturday. It’s unfortunate that we can’t run the market on any other days. The cafes are rammed on Mondays. Saturday is good, but it’s not like Mondays. There is no other market around here on Monday. Shipton is the nearest market to here. In addition we help with employment locally for shops and the pubs also get a lot more local business (when the market is open). We asked Steve about interactions between stall owners and the local economy (e.g. selling produce, outside catering, work training etc) as we wanted to see how much of a difference these stalls make. Local traders actually sell their products to the shopkeepers, restaurants and pubs, for example fruit and vegetables are sold to the shops. The stalls also employ local people – and others are employed from outside the area. This highlights the links made between local shopkeepers and market traders. Steve claims the relationships between the two is created very easily, due to the close working environment and also the cross selling between them. For market-goers the product is the relaxing atmosphere in the market. We wanted to gain insight into how the market provides active schemes for training, development, and career skills. Steve claims: The market isn’t active at the moment in providing training, career skills, or apprenticeships. It would be a bit of problem as traders are not trading 7 days a week so traders would be losing money if they started doing training instead of focusing on selling.

We wanted to know more what the plans for the future of Poulton le Fylde market and how it could maximise its contribution to the local economy. Steve told us: The market could maximise its contribution to the local economy by having more space for traders. Once Booths is re-developed in November we will have another nine stalls allocated outside which will be permanent spots. We could run advertising which would attract people from out of town rather than just from Fleetwood and Blackpool.

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Poulton le Fylde Market and the local economy

In Figure 15 we gather economic performance figures calculated from ROI Team’s work and provided from file by Market Manager and Council officers. Figure 15

Poulton Le Fylde Market

Number of stalls 39

Traders per week 30

Full rental potential £42,608

Current rental take £34,283

Difference -20%

Market generated jobs 3

Trader generated jobs 12

Market generation of local commerce -

% contribution to local business chain 10%

Market turnover per year £1.97m

Investment for maintenance and improvements

£500

Owners of other retail locations, such as shopping centres or retail parks, would see a very ordered relationship between turnover (i.e. customer spend), rental payable by tenants, and re-investment into the centre. In markets these relationships are much less dependable. Poulton Market rather reflects the disjointed relationship found generally in markets. Rental take is currently 80% of the potential, which compares well enough with vacancy levels on High Streets in the NW. But whereas in a shopping centre, rent would typically be geared at between 5% to 7% of turnover, in Poulton Market it equates to just 2% of turnover. And annual investment is estimated to be just £500 per year – on a turnover of close to £2m. One would expect that a successful and progressive market would repay more ambitious investment by the Council.

Rent and

Vacancy Levels

Market Turnover/Actual

rental/Investment

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Acknowledgements

ROI Team wishes to thank many people and organisations that have supported this project. The

work was commissioned by Nabma with initial funding provided by the DCLG. We also thank

managers and councils responsible for the six participating markets who agreed to host our

fieldwork in their markets and also provided funding which was matched from the DCLG

allocation. As work and analysis has progressed we have valued advice and support from

Nabma, the NMTF, and the DCLG Research Sub Group. We very much appreciate the input of

these organisations and additionally many markets professionals who have willingly provided

information and reaction.

Andrew McCall

ROI Team

May 2015

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