Definition of ICSC-UBS

ICSC-UBS stands for International council of shopping centers and UBS investment Bank. It is actually an economic index published by ICSC-UBS to analyze the performance of the retail industry of America. In the report same stores or comparable retail store’s performance is measured i.e. their sales performance with respect to each other and also with the previous year. It does not normally include restaurant and food places.

The report is very useful especially in indicating economic activity and patterns in consumer spending. The study of consumer spending is very important as it accounts for two third of the GDP.

Brief Explanation of ICSC-UBS

The ICSC was founded in March 1957 and now consists of around 45,000 members from 75 countries all around the world. It includes marketing personnel, retailers, shopping center owners, developers and public officials.

The main purpose of this report is to provide development assistance to its members by educating them, by conventions publications and legislations.

This report is published weekly to reflect the effect of major events and holidays on the retail industry. It normally runs from Sunday to Saturday. Some retailers also use different time periods. It may indicate the trend of stores because of weather i.e. summer might keep the customers out of the stores while heavy winter may increase the sales of winter stuff.

The figures or report normally is in the form of percentage and shows the percentage variance between the weeks and previous year.