Four Reasons The Weather Impact on Retail Sales is Increasing

Or: why retailers should stop worrying and love The Weather Channel

The holiday shopping season is make-or-break time for retailers, and it kicks off in earnest this weekend.

For context and perspective, Deloitte found that consumers nationwide will spend 56% of their holiday budget between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Weather plays a massive role in shaping what, when, and how we buy, and it becomes even more critical during the holiday shopping season. Given the expected volume of Black Friday sales and this year’s shortened shopping season, this weekend's impact is even more critical than usual.

The four main reasons …

Forecast confidence: Today's weather forecasts are incredibly accurate. They aren’t perfect, of course, but they’re better than economic forecasts, fashion forecasts, trend forecasts, and on and on.

“Why did God create economists? To make weather forecasters look good.” — Wall Street Journal

While we all (myself included) may occasionally complain if a forecast isn’t perfect, the predictions are almost always “-ish” correct; therefo…