News

Warm holiday temps present a cold front for retail sales

The warmer than usual temperatures during the holiday season isn't likely making retailers very jolly.

December 18, 2015

The unusually warm temperature start to winter and the holiday season may be making homeowners feel jolly given lower oil costs and helping keep commuters happy with clear roadways, but it’s not likely feeling much love from the retail segment.

Apparently a warmer than usual winter doesn’t put many consumers in the typically happy holiday mood associated with cold and snow and wintry conditions, according to a Yahoo news report.

Shoppers are still wearing flip flops and summer attire in some areas where boots and parkas are normally being pulled on by mid-December. A weather forecasting firm that tracks weather impact to retail activity reports it’s amounting to a 40-percent revenue dip for retailers at this point.

Planalytics, according to Yahoo, states mall-based clothing stores have lost $343 million in sales compared to a year ago. The most recent similar big weather impact for retail took place in 1998 when a disastrous ice storm hit parts of the Northeast.

The retail segment obviously feeling the biggest pain are those in the winter clothing and footwear business. Sales of women’s boots have dropped 24 percent in the first half of this month, claims Planalytics.

"Winter didn't happen and so the clothes, the scarves are not selling," Ron Friedman, head of the retail and consumer products group at accounting firm Marcum LLP, told Yahoo. That means consumers could see huge price cuts, maybe as high as 75 percent, post-Christmas.

Earlier this season the National Retail Federation predicted that sales last month and this month would see a 3.7-percent increase.