Wrong type of weather knocks high street

Really2

OK so to get my head round this.

I think it is possible for weather to effect retail sales.

Many on here do not.

So can someone prove/ state why weather has no effect on sales.

i am really interest why some are so sure weather has no influence.

Graham_Devon

Really2 wrote: »

OK so to get my head round this.

I think it is possible for weather to effect retail sales.

Many on here do not.

So can someone prove/ state why weather has no effect on sales.

i am really interest why some are so sure weather has no influence.

No one is saying any of the above. Either you are terribly confused, or trying your hardest to confuse the situation and imply people are saying things no one is saying. I think Hamish's detraction may be still in your head. The article doesn't talk about what Hamish was going on about.

All people are saying is that 2 days out of 30, does not make the whole month unseasonably hot.

It wasn't an unseasonably hot month. The article states it was, therefore thats why retail is down...which is stupid anyway, as hot weather gets people spending on other stuff, hence other retailers releasing good figures.

It's spending in general which is down.

This cannot be blamed on a month when it was unseasonably hot, as it wasn't. And in all honesty, the weather has little to do with spending being down anyway. The weather didn't stop anyone doing anything, not like snow etc.

It's just spending which is down, in line with consumer confidence etc.

The article is desperate. It's another "it's the weathers fault" story, which as you all know, amuse me. But this one takes the biscuit.

Davesnave

Weather does have an influence where DD2 works. If it rains heavily, a proportion of people stay at home, and if it's sunny & warm, many say "Bu99er shopping!" and head for the beach instead.

A few Saturdays ago, the staff felt they had a mountain to climb to reach their sales bonus, worth £300 in DD's case. They were £24k short, but by changing stuff around a bit and giving customers slightly different treatment from usual, they pushed people through at a rate of knots and hit the jackpot by 4.30pm. Luck was on their side, because it stayed dull and a little drizzly outside.

They'd probably not have bothered making a special effort if it had been a hot, sunny Saturday, but then, obviously, someone else would have benefited, like ice cream sellers.

StevieJ

English weather, I remember a cricket match in June where the team batting first score well over 300 runs on the Saturday (in glorious 80 degree sunshine). It then snowed on the Sunday (this is June :eek:) and the opposing side were bowled out twice on the Monday for an innings defeat.

Mrs_Bones

Really2 wrote: »

OK so to get my head round this.

I think it is possible for weather to effect retail sales.

Many on here do not.

So can someone prove/ state why weather has no effect on sales.

i am really interest why some are so sure weather has no influence.

Weather can effect sales you are right, that is well know by people in retail but the OP reporting about the sun being responsible for bad sales in September is rubbish.

Being unseasonal warm weather then yes, shops would not have been selling many winter coats so it may well have hit the fashion side of retail but the couple of days would not have that drastic effect on the months total sale figures. Many shops would have seen increased sales which should mean that if anything the total retail figures should have a boost, if they are down for September it will be because of the general economy not the weather.

Weather facts from the shop floor are

Sunny hot weather = Good

It brings people out and around the shops and they stay there for longer, they are more likely to buy things on impulse, happy moods tend to make people buy more then they were thinking of buying. Parents are more likely to give into children pester power. Marketing power can be use for full effect.

Horrible weather (wet, cold, wintery) = Bad

People don't want to come out, only do so if they are forced. They don't hang around and look at things, don't impulse buy, but get what they came for and go back home. People are grumpy and gloomy, children pestering for things are more likely to get a clip round the ear then what they ask for.

shortchanged_2

Really2 wrote: »

OK so to get my head round this.

I think it is possible for weather to effect retail sales.

Many on here do not.

So can someone prove/ state why weather has no effect on sales.

i am really interest why some are so sure weather has no influence.

The problem is, that it has become the default answer for poor retail sales.

There's nothing wrong with a good bit of honesty. Such as......... 'retail sales were poor last month as were the previous months because the economy is shafted and consumer confidence is, to put it politely sh*t.'

Really2

shortchanged wrote: »

The problem is, that it has become the default answer for poor retail sales.

There's nothing wrong with a good bit of honesty. Such as......... 'retail sales were poor last month as were the previous months because the economy is shafted and consumer confidence is, to put it politely sh*t.'

And increased ones? but no one seems to have a problem when good weather is used for increased sales.

The reality is the economy and weather have an effect, 4% could easily be turned round next month if it was weather related.

If Dec is good this year we will have "oh but the weather was bad last Dec"

No one can conclude it is the economy, so putting that as the sole reason would be just as bad IMHO.

Graham_Devon

Really2 wrote: »

And increased ones? but no one seems to have a problem when good weather is used for increased sales.

Have you ever seen a headline: "Lack of rain helps sales" and a whole article based on it?

When you do, let me know, and we'll discuss it.

Increased sales don't generally lean towards excuses for the data.

Really2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Have you ever seen a headline: "Lack of rain helps sales" and a whole article based on it?

When you do, let me know, and we'll discuss it.

Increased sales don't generally lean towards excuses for the data.

Oh how you forget so easily.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/02/08/uk-britain-retail-brc-idUKTRE71701Y20110208

While the British Retail Consortium said like-for-like retail sales rose by 2.3 percent in January, compared to a year before, the trade body warned that the figures had been depressed by snow in January 2010.

Heavy discounting, pent up demand after December's bad weather and a rush to beat the rise in the VAT sales tax on January 4 fuelled a rush of buying in the first few days of the month which then petered out.

"The underlying trend was not as healthy as January's headline growth rate in sales suggested,"

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Have you ever seen a headline: "Lack of rain helps sales" and a whole article based on it?

When you do, let me know, and we'll discuss it.

Does this count?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3846630/Britons-go-balmy-for-bbq-autumn.html

Supermarket giant Tesco were furiously ordering last minute stock as they predicted a "barbecue bonanza" with their biggest ever autumn sale of bbq related products.

They predicted 3.5 million sales of sausages in the next three days as well as 550,000 burgers, a million pots of potato salad and coleslaw, ten million bottles and cans of beer, three million bottles of wine, 500,000 tubs of ice cream, three million ice lollies, 600,000 iceberg lettuces, two million peppers, 850,000 cucumbers and 550,000 packs of sweetcorn.

Tesco meat, fish and poultry senior customer manager Jo Wren said today: "We have already seen rising sales through the week of typical outdoor fare such as burgers and sausages but this weekend could see the biggest ever UK autumn demand for barbecue foods."

The firm uses a team of data experts to calculate how much sales change in a region for every degree of temperature and every hour of sunshine.

Meanwhile the website Hotels.com said it had experienced a 983 per cent rise in searches for top British seaside destinations including Bournemouth and Weston-Super-Mare.

It's the Sun so in the article the words are padded out with pictures of girls in bikinis.