Page 23 - MarketTimesDecember2016
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Mission for Markets Survey Results
— Markets Matter 2016
    From May to July 2016, NABMA and NMTF once again undertook the biggest survey of the retail markets sector ever seen before in the UK.
Responses were received from 310 market operators and 889 business owners that trade on over 1,000 markets and/or market-type events, such as fairs, festivals or from street trading pitches (99 per cent confidence level, 1 per cent margin of error).
In addition, 382 business owners completed an extended survey, providing in-depth data about their business activities (95 per cent confidence level, 5 per cent margin of error).
Unless otherwise states, figures in this section are calculated from data collected from this year’s survey and the Mission for Markets survey from 2014/15.
More information about the campaign can be found online at www.mission4markets.uk.
RETAIL MARKETS
There are 1,127 retail markets in the UK comprised of 305 indoor markets, 171 street markets, 80 covered markets and 516 outdoor markets. 55 operators described their markets as “other” (eg combination of indoor/outdoor markets).
In total 733 are markets operated by local authorities, 203 are privately operated, 56 are operated by social enterprises, 23 are trader operated markets and 112 are other management models such as joint venture arrangements or limited liability partnerships (unadjusted figures).
The survey shows that occupancy levels across the market sector are around 77 per cent and this shows there is an oversupply of stalls based on the current demand. The occupancy levels are consistently similar across all regions in the UK. The largest fall in stall take- up is on outdoor markets where there is an average of 29 per cent stalls vacant. Indoor markets are performing better with an average vacancy factor of 14 per cent.
Capacity figures from NMTF, gathered by a team who visit markets every day of the week, provide further evidence for this figure. Taking into account visits to markets from 1 January 2014 to 31 July 2016, markets in England are 71 per cent occupied, markets in Wales are 94 per cent occupied, and markets in Scotland are 76 per cent occupied. No data for Northern Ireland was
 KEY FACTS
The 2015/16 study revealed the following headline figures:
• 1,127 retail markets
• 32,000 market traders
• 850 apprentices employed by market traders
• 56,500 people directly employed on retail markets
• Retail market sector turnover of around £2.7 billion a year
• £51.6 million invested to improve retail markets
• 65 per cent of retail markets run by local authorities
• An estimated 27 billion shopping visits to retail markets per year (footfall counts)
• 26 wholesale markets
• 1,000 wholesale businesses
• An estimated 10,000 people directly employed on wholesale markets
• Wholesale sector turnover of £3.25 billion a year
• A collective markets industry turnover of £5.95 billion a year
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