Apple Remains the Retail Leader in Sales per Square Foot

August 7, 2017

This article is included in these additional categories:

Brand-Related | Industries | Retail & E-Commerce | Top Brands

While in-store buying continues to be popular – even with youth – the rapid growth of e-commerce and outsized influence of Amazon has wreaked havoc on many brick-and-mortar retailers. In fact, most public retailers are now averaging $325 in sales per square foot in recent years, according to CoStar and eMarketer, down from $375 in the early 2000s.

Nevertheless, some retailers continue to buck the trend and register some impressive sales-per-square-foot figures, according to the report.

Chief among those is Apple, which has enjoyed huge success from its brick-and-mortar stores. With its $5,546 in sales per square foot, Apple is more than 3 times more profitable on this measure than the leading apparel retailer, lululemon Athletica ($1,560 per square foot), which sees the 5th-largest sales per square foot.

It seems that Apple has been growing in those earnings: in 2015, eMarketer pegged its earnings at $5,009 per square foot.

Second on the list in this latest report is Generation Next Franchise Brands, perhaps known better for its Reis & Irvy frozen yogurt vending kiosks, which register $3,970 in sales per square foot.

Close behind, national gas station and convenience chain Murphy USA’s roughly 1,400 retail stores bring in an average of $3,721 per square foot.

Finally, Tiffany & Co. comes in 4th with sales of almost $3,000 ($2,951) per square foot, according to the report.

In other retail store news, a report from JLL [download page] reveals that apparel retailers have been the hardest hit, with 1,643 announced store closures. Apparel & Accessories also happens to be the top e-commerce product category, per comScore, with sustained online sales growth that have seen it reach 1 in 6 retail dollars spent online.

rue21 has announced the most store closures this year of any apparel retailer, per the JLL report, having disclosed that it will shutter 400 stores. The Limited is next with 250 stores closures, followed by Wet Seal (171) and Bebe (17).

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