Planalytics Inc predicted that North American retailers with a strong seasonal merchandise focus will benefit from weather conditions that make consumers more likely to purchase winter products. Specialty apparel chains and department stores stand to capture the biggest gains over last year’s holiday season which offered weather that was far less conducive for the sales of sweaters, winter outerwear and other seasonal goods.
Planalytics shared its outlook on yesterday’s “9th Annual Holiday Preview” Webcast. A summary of the Webcast presentation is available by request at Planalytics website where information on Planalytics’ in-season update Webcast “The Holiday Homestretch” scheduled for Tuesday, December 11th is also available.
“The past few months have been extremely difficult for many retailers but weather is set to switch from enemy to friend as the holiday shopping season begins,” commented Scott Bernhardt, Chief Operating Officer for Planalytics. “The unseasonably warm weather that kept shoppers away in September and October has created quite a bit of ‘pent up’ demand that consumers will look to address as cooler weather finally arrives.”
From a weather standpoint, 2007 will provide significantly more opportunity for retailers to move seasonal merchandise than last holiday shopping season, which saw record warmth in the Northeast and was one of the warmest ever across North America.
“Retailers are generally positioned to benefit froma strong ‘weather comp’ this year,” said Evan Gold, Planalytics’ Vice President of Client Services. “It will be cooler overall in most regions driving demand up for winter products and the periodic cold snaps we expect will further amplify these year-on-year gains.”
Planalytics projects positive year-on-year weather driven demand changes in North America for softline categories such as boots/seasonal footwear (+21%) and outerwear (+12%), as will as, hardline categories like portable heaters (+25%) and automotive products (11%). Consumer good categories such as soup and cough/cold will see weather driven demand gains of 5% during the period.
“It is going to feel a lot more like winter this year than it did last year,” stated Bernhardt, “and it will influence what is in shoppers’ bags. Stores selling seasonal merchandise should have a happier holiday than many are expecting.”
Planalytics Inc
