How retailers can stay ahead of weather-related challenges
By Sheryll Poe, NRF Contributor
Recent changes in climate and increasingly volatile weather have had a pronounced impact on retailers.
Over 3% of all retail sales are directly affected by changes in the weather each year, which amounts to about $1 trillion in retail sales annually, Planalytics’ Evan Gold says on this episode of Retail Gets Real.
Weather volatility is “the most impactful climate-related risks that retailers face today. No other external variable has an influence on consumer demand as frequently, directly or meaningfully as this,” says Gold, executive vice president, global partnerships and alliances at the business weather intelligence firm.
Yet weather volatility is the least understood, least measured and least acted upon external factor that affects retail performance, according to Gold.
“Here in the U.S., we have a billion-dollar weather disaster on average every three weeks,” he says. “In comparison, back in the 1980s, it was once every four months.”
For retailers, that can mean delayed or lost sales, compromised infrastructure and increased supply chain costs.
It’s not just big weather events that can have significant ramifications for retailers. “Over 90% of the sales volatility that a retailer experiences comes from the day-in and day-out changes in weather, and not from those extreme events,” Gold says.
NRF partnered with Planalytics, a predictive demand analytics company, on “Climate-Proofing Retail,” a report that outlines how a changing climate and increasing weather volatility influence retail sales and the practical steps individual companies can take to manage the related opportunities and risks.
. . .
