Weather Trends International's January Weather Outlook For Retailers

Are retailers ready for the snowiest January in 11 years?

Nationally, January 2006 was the warmest in 112 years with the least amount of snowfall in 14 years. The mild and dry weather pattern resulted in fantastic outdoor weather and boosted retail store traffic. Retail same-store sales gains were +5.0% and that was the second biggest gain this entire year. So, what does a wholesale change in the weather this January mean for retailers ? It means GOOD NEWS and BAD NEWS. The good news is, it will help clear excess Winter seasonal merchandise that has been stagnant for the past 6-weeks due to much warmer weather than last year's coldest and snowiest December in five years. The chart below shows that the weeks leading up to Christmas this year have been much warmer than a year ago….but that's changing as we speak. The bad news is that cold and snowy weather can shut down malls like today (12/21/06) in Denver and send consumers into hibernation.

Retailers must have asked Santa for some cold and snowy weather as he's certainly bringing some with him this year. Blizzards in the Central U.S. are a sign of things to come this January with what is expected to be one of the greatest year-over-year changes toward colder and snowier weather in 113 years of records. A prolonged 6-week stretch of much colder and snowier conditions is a near certainty to kick-off Winter this year which officially begins tonight at 7:22pm EST. "Unlike last year, national snowfall will trend 200% to 300% more than a year ago for many cities in the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast and that will be both a blessing and a curse for retailers", said Bill Kirk, CEO Weather Trends International. " While stormy weather is great for must-have seasonal items like coats and snow accessories, it's not favorable for overall store traffic and overall retail results" , Kirk added.

Visit: www.wxtrends.com/content/januaryoutlook.asp for charts and graphics.
Nature's wrath…it's coming! Have a great holiday season.

Weather Trends International is a leader of actionable business-weather intelligence for retailers, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and agricultural firms whose product's sales are impacted by frequent changes in year-over-year weather conditions. Clients include Wal-Mart, ASDA, Kohl’s, Gander Mountain, Johnson & Johnson, Anheuser-Busch, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup among others. Its weather solutions and understanding of how consumers respond to the weather is used throughout organizations to help "manage the weather risk" by timing and planning key marketing, advertising, markdowns, and inventory allocation decisions around favorable weather opportunities. Utilizing technology first developed in the early 1990s, Weather Trends International’s unique statistical forecasting methodology projects temperature, precipitation and snowfall trends by week, 11-months into the future for 3,931 cities in 129 countries.