Innovating with data across the public sector: perth – high street insights

April 1, 2020


PERTH: HIGH STREET INSIGHTS

WHAT IS IT?

Tackling the challenge of the ailing High Street by capturing retail spend data to better understand how people use our towns and cities and keep spend local. Perth and Kinross Council and Miconex, working in partnership have sought to keep Perth as a vibrant and attractive city by keeping spend local using MiRewards and the Perth Gift Card. Now the project is developing further with funding from Scottish Futures Trust to capture retail spend data and reward and incentivise people to spend locally and visit frequently. The data from thousands of consumers and scores of businesses is now revealing insights into who visits and spends and who doesn’t in Perth city centre.

WHY IS IT NEEDED?

There are very poor datasets for managing town centres currently, frequently managers rely on anecdotal evidence more than they do on their own unreliable footfall counters or vacant shop rates. Capturing spend data – as all the big supermarkets discovered – is the key to keeping customers loyal and encouraging more spend. This project is using payment-linked technology in small local stores enabling them to gain greater customer understanding. For City Centre Managers it can answers questions such as which parts of the city centre/retailers are most valuable; who visits and who spends; and what do we need to do to support the High Street in the face of growing online shopping.

WHAT IMPACT DOES IT HAVE?

This new measurement framework enables towns and cities to start to understand consumer spend and behaviour which is key to better town centre management, transport planning and capital investment projects.

HOW IMPORTANT IS DATA TO THE PROJECT?

Data is at the centre of the project. The consumer movement and spend data gathered will be of sufficient breadth and depth to support the majority of business and city planning questions.

WHO TO CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION?

The 8th City contact is Frazer Smith, Perth and Kinross Council: Phone 01738 476949, Email fsmith@pkc.gov.uk

Miconex: Phone 01738 444376 or Email colin@mi-cnx.com