G2 Weather Weekly by Paul Walsh
Don't Fire That Spring Promotion Yet
“Weather moves consumer demand. Of course it does. Every retailer knows it, but most find out after the fact. When it hits them where it counts—in the earnings.”
Benji and I took our morning walk yesterday (Sunday), like we do most days. I call it his morning constipational.
It was cloudy, raw, and still damp from yesterday’s much-needed rain — the kind of morning when Benji takes his time finding the perfect spot, then circles clockwise — anticyclonic, for you weather nerds — several times more than usual before sticking the landing and celebrating with his (extended) end zone dance.
Standing there in the cold, I thought about the Home Depot and Lowe’s five miles from my house. This is their season. Every raw, cold weekend morning like this one is a delayed sale — a consumer who stayed inside, skipped the nursery run, pushed the weekend project to next weekend.
The weather’s impact on consumers is like politics — all lo…
