The Coastal villages of Westbourne, Boscombe and Southbourne are reflecting on the success of their recent Christmas Campaigns funded by Bournemouth’s Coastal Business Improvement District (BID).
Footfall figures from the cameras installed by the Coastal BID earlier this year in Westbourne and Southbourne have indicated just what a difference the Christmas Campaigns have made to the numbers of shoppers visiting at this key time of year for retailers.
The cameras measure the number of people walking past a particular location on an hourly basis. They were installed to help build up a pattern of shopping habits in an area over the year to help businesses plan their trading and staffing.
The ‘Westbourne for Christmas’ event on Saturday 6thDecember generated a spike in footfall of some 40 % compared to the average over the previous four Saturdays.
President of Westbourne Traders Association, Steve Taylor, enthused, “We are thrilled with how successful our ‘Westbourne for Christmas’ Campaign has been. It was made possible with the funding that we received from the Coastal BID and their support has been crucial. He continued, “I am really proud of how the Westbourne Businesses pulled together to ensure that the event was so successful.”
Samantha Acton, Chair of Southbourne on the Southbourne-on-Sea Business Association (SoBSA) added, “The funding provided by the BID enabled us to shout about the Christmas events in Southbourne – and to let families know about our ever popular ‘Secret Santa Post Box. The figures indicated an amazing 46% increase in football on Saturday 13thDecember, the day of our ‘Santa on the Green’ celebrations.’ The footfall camera is proving its worth by enabling us to quantify the success of our events, in terms of increased footfall.”
The theme of positivity continues in Boscombe where Chair of the Boscombe Business Association, Peter Ruscoe commented, “This is the second year the BID has funded the ‘Countdown to Christmas’ in Boscombe, which runs over the four Saturdays leading up to Christmas. Based on the footfall cameras in the Sovereign Centre (the new BID camera was only installed at the end of November) we can track the increased number of people around on Saturdays for the ‘Countdown’ events.”
Steve, Sam and Peter concluded, “We are looking forward to working closely with the Coastal BID in 2015 and establishing the unique identities and branding of our individual areas, ensuring that we can identify the most appropriate events and investment to enhance footfall.”
Coastal BID Manager, Alun Williams, commented, “It is fantastic to hear about the successes from our Coastal Villages. Each area worked really hard to ensure that their very different campaigns were hits and the BID is delighted that its input can be measured in this way. These successes mark the significant progress that the Coastal BID is making in delivering its five year Business Plan.”
Kate Shaw
