“About 80% of our company’s year-over-year declines in comparable sales can be attributed to shortfalls in cold-weather goods,” said Macy’s CEO in a recent news article, explaining the cause of its sever holiday sales decline (he also said a strong dollar depressed purchases by foreign tourists).
Clothing retailers have always had a love/hate relationship with the weather, as it’s a useful prompt for getting consumers to consider their wardrobes. Seasonal changes are what usually gives focus to merchandising and marketing decisions.
When a season doesn’t show up — this winter has been particularly warm in North America, thanks to an occasional phenomenon known as El Nino — retailers can see a decline in shoppers commensurate with the lack of a drop in temperature.
It’s nothing new. Clothing merchandisers risk lots picking seasonal trends much the same way the CDC makes annual bets on flu vaccines. But as the first big retailer to report holiday sales, it will be interesting to see how much, or little, the odd winter is reflected in sales at Macy’s competitors.
The bigger story is about what happens next…
Read the entire essay at Linkedin