WEATHERS IMPACT ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
One of the external variables that exert a tremendous impact on consumer demand is the weather, affecting the purchasing behavior of millions of consumers on a daily basis. Whether it is a B2B service related business, or a consumer based retail store, being able to anticipate the risks and capitalize on the opportunities created by the weather is important for business and marketing strategies.
Last September is on record as one of the warmest in the US, and put outerwear sales on hold. “Outerwear sales did get off to a pretty miserable start in 2016 due to the weather as both September and October came in as their warmest in over 50 years. Depressing the demand for outerwear by 11 per cent,” said David Frieberg, VP of marketing for weather analytics firm Planalytics. “
We are seeing similar warm weather patterns in regions of Canada for fall 2017. Which usually means that weak sales on the front-end of the season will impact the balance of the season as brands react and adjust. However most businesses do not take steps to understand or actively address its impact. In fact, according to Planalytics on average 5% of total annual revenue can be affected by the weather, with seasonal business having much greater impacts. Understanding and managing weather’s impact across the business remains a huge, untapped reservoir for profit enhancement.
Weather’s influence on consumers is complex and nuanced, yet it can be measured and managed through analytics. When looking at your business performance data for this fall, take into consideration the warm weather patterns. Does the performance for September follow the same patterns as previous years? Has the warm weather caused performance trends to align more closely with summer months? And what impact will your findings have for the months of October, November, and December?
