We have now had a week with temperatures reaching as high as 38°C, the well-known heat wave that seems to come back more and more often in the Netherlands. Now that we have this extremely hot week behind us, it might be interesting to look at extreme weather and E-commerce figures of your webshop. Were your sales actually higher or lower than normal? We have investigated this further and it strikes us that extreme weather (whether super hot or intensely cold) has a positive influence on online sales.
A longer period of extreme weather is better
When we experience an extended period of extreme weather like the past week with this heat wave, we immediately see a link between extreme weather and E-commerce and the direct impact on online sales. In contrast, severe extreme weather of short duration has much less impact on retail sales. A good example is that when 10 cm of snow falls for a week this has more impact than half a meter of snow on a single day. An important aspect here is of course the contribution of the media, with abnormal weather more attention is paid to this while extreme weather over a longer period has much more impact.
Business is very sensitive to seemingly small variations in weather. A seasonal 1°C higher or lower than the norm can lead to a "disappointing" quarterly or annual result. But of course, as an e-commerce business owner, you shouldn't let these kinds of numbers guide you too much either. Of course, when you start comparing your figures with the previous year, you have to realize that the weather also affects your results. A colder and wetter 2019, followed by a warmer and drier 2020 can give quite a distorted picture of the sales figures. Better to look at long-term averages then.
The impact extreme weather and E-commerce on retail abroad
A good example of this is America. In America, the influence of weather is a lot stronger than in England, for example. The retail sector in America relative to weather changes can affect the online result with its 2.3%. In contrast, the influence of weather in England is again a lot lower at about 1%.
Extreme weather and E-commerce
We see that extreme weather and E-commerce interact positively which is reflected in the number of online sales. This is probably because in both very low and very high temperatures people prefer not to go out to buy something. On the other hand, we also see that ordinary good weather is actually positive for the ordinary shopping state, when consumers actually like to go out.
Extreme weather has a beneficial effect on certain products. For example, during extremely low temperatures, winter tires, ice scrapers and buckets of road salt are in short supply. During an extreme summer such as now, products such as swimming pools, Jacuzzis, cooling food and drinks and air conditioners are very popular.
We are of course very curious about your experiences regarding extreme weather and E-commerce. What about your webshop? Do you sell products that have always done well in the summer? Do you think the ceiling has not been reached yet but you do not know how you can achieve more growth. We can advise and / or guide you, please contact us to see where your growth opportunities lie.
