Santa Cruz, California— Even though the home and furniture channel’s in-store traffic dropped the most last year, there may be a bright spot in the data.
The 2024 Retail Foot Traffic Recap report from Placer.ai shows that total visits to home and furnishings businesses fell 5.7% in 2024. From January to July 2024, the channel saw its largest drops in viewers, but in the second half of the year, it started to recover. Additionally, the channel had a robust 3.5% increase in fourth-quarter traffic toward the end of the year. The year-end performance is described by Placer.ai as “a promising sign for 2025.”
In 2024, overall retail foot traffic increased by a meager 0.4%. It is hardly unexpected that discount and dollar stores (2.8% visit growth YoY) and superstores (1.7% growth YoY) outperformed other retail categories in a year when shoppers prioritized value and need.
Placer.ai’s complete results, arranged from best to worst by channel, included:
- Discount & dollar stores: +2.8%
- Superstores: +1.7%
- Beauty & spa: +1.6%
- Clothing: +1.5%
- Shopping centers: +1.3%
- Groceries: +1.0%
- Office Supplies: -0.4%
- Hobbies, gifts & crafts: -0.4%
- Home improvement: -1.5%
- Recreational & sporting goods: -1.6%
- Gas stations & convenience stores: -1.6%
- Drugstores & pharmacies: -2.1%
- Electronics stores: -3.5%
- Home furnishings and furniture stores: -5.7%
Ezra Carmel and Noam Maman, analysts at Placer.ai, wrote, “However, a comprehensive analysis of 2024 showed that the year did outperform 2023, with overall retail visits up 0.4%, suggesting that consumer behavior remains resilient and that 2025 could mark a further turnaround if cooling inflation meets consumer expectations.”
