In a recent survey carried out on the Kilkenny city centre shopping experience, it was discovered that 29 per cent of people surveyed do their grocery shopping outside of the city centre.
This leakage of shoppers is considered a significant loss to city centre stores.
The survey, which was carried out by RIKON, a dedicated business development group associated with WIT, on behalf of Kilkenny City Centre Business Association, was a thorough survey which saw 1,411 people answer a detailed questionnaire on their experience of shopping in Kilkenny city.
Within the survey it was found that a leakage of 29 per cent was occurring in grocery shopping revenue.
There was also a 29 per cent leakage in the spending of disposable income in the city, centre which was being lost to other counties or to towns outside of Kilkenny city.
There was a 20 per cent leakage in every euro in the spend on entertainment in the city and Kilkenny environs was considered to be the biggest competitor in this area.
The survey also showed that Kilkenny city provides a positive shopping experience to those who shop here.
Elements of the shopping experience were rated from one to five with one being very poor and five being excellent.
The findings illustrated that Kilkenny rates above average for the overall shopping experience offered to shoppers.
Kilkenny city itself received an average score of 3.06, which is between average and good. Cleanliness of the city came in at four, which was considered good, while pedestrianisation only scored 2.61 as the streets were said to be narrow and dangerous in places.
The store experience rated very well with good scores for cleanliness, value for money, product selection, shop fronts and opening hours, with most of these scoring between 3.5 and 4.5 on the scale.
Friendliness of staff got four and employer reliability received 3.89. Overall the city scored 3.7 for value, 3.81 for quality and 3.69 for satisfaction.
When presenting these figures to the members of Kilkenny Borough Council this week, Dr Pat Lynch of WIT said that the figure for satisfaction was important and was a positive result for Kilkenny.
“In order to be a destination of excellence we need to up it to the next level and sometimes it doesn’t take too much to do this,” he said. “If you can increase customer loyalty by five per cent you can increase profits by up to 85 per cent, there is always room for improvement.”
Meanwhile members of the council were very interested in the survey results
“We need solid data such as this to make big retail decisions and I hope that this information will be used in the future, prior to the planning of further retail developments for Kilkenny,” Cllr David Fitzgerald said.
Cllr Sean O’ hArgain added, “It appears that the lack of a Tesco or a Marks and Spencer in Kilkenny doesn’t help our leakage problem. We need choice and value in Kilkenny and there was a time when there was a perception that low cost retailers were being kept out of the city, but it is obvious now that when you have competition prices come down”.
Cllr Joe Reidy said that the lines of communication must be kept open and the messages of this report must be listened to in the future.
Mayor Malcolm Noonan pointed out that the research was an essential tool in the future economic development of Kilkenny.
However, the mayor added, “We have to be careful not to replicate the mistakes of the past that the UK is currently trying to redress now in relation to large retail development in towns. We need to make developments more sustainable”.
In a statement from the city traders, the survey was welcomed and the results applauded. “City traders are delighted with the great experience being provided to customers in Kilkenny city centre,” the statement read. “The very positive results of an extensive survey were welcomed by city bosses.”
Phil Walsh (CEO of Goods Department Store ) said, ‘’Kilkenny City Centre Business Association (KCCBA ) are very eager to take feedback from our customers so that we can make shopping in Kilkenny even better”.
Jim Flynn, chairman of KCCBA (Kilkenny Cafe, Market Cross ), who attended the meeting on Monday said, “These results give us a sound basis to make Destination Kilkenny even better”.
The survey was carried out on behalf of KCCBA who were seeking a factual basis on which to develop a programme for growing and improving shopping in the heart of Kilkenny city. Shopping in the city centre was a very positive experience for the majority of people surveyed.
The survey was funded by a €50,000 grant from Kilkenny County Enterprise Board.
