Between price hikes due to tariffs and inflation, sagging consumer confidence, and shoppers becoming choosier than ever, retailers had plenty to overcome this holiday season.
But they managed to — and should emerge with sales 3 to 4 percent above last year’s holiday season, meeting or slightly surpassed their plans, according to commentary from about two dozen retailers, shopping center executives, analysts, and market researchers.
How did they do it? Retailers offered values that were appealing and apparent. Consumers were willing to absorb tariff-related price increases, generally under 10 percent on fashion. And the weather was conducive to Americans getting out to shop, except where there was flooding in the Pacific Northwest and storms in the Midwest. California was battered with flooding rains on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and the Northeast got hit with a major snowstorm late Friday into Saturday. These likely reduced store visits for returns and shopping with gift cards and had some impact on business, but probably didn’t dramatically alter the outcome. . . .
. . . the Friday and weekend after Christmas brought significant weather volatility, impacting what’s normally a busy day in stores for returns and redeeming gift cards. In the Pacific Northwest, “Heavy precipitation and high winds are expected to persist through New Year’s Day,” Evan Gold, executive vice president of global partnership and alliances at Planalytics, which quantifies how weather impacts businesses, wrote in a report. “Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Seattle and Portland are among the major markets to expect heavy precipitation, including 3-plus inches of rain over the coming days. This will bring flooding conditions and keep soils saturated. In addition, high winds are expected from Northern California into the Pacific Northwest, posing threats for power outages and causing travel disruptions.”
Gold indicated that sales on the West Coast of need-based categories will spike, including wiper blades, rainwear and pumps.
Major population centers, including New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Detroit, got hit with snow and ice over the weekend. New York City got over 4 inches of snow, its most in four years. Another storm, mainly rain with some ice, was expected to hit the Northeast late Sunday afternoon into early Monday morning. Gold wrote before the Saturday storm that it was likely to drive demand for need-based categories, including ice melt, snow shovels, scrapers, heaters and more, Gold wrote.
However, unlike the days preceding Christmas, when consumers must get to the stores for last-minute gifts, shoppers could wait out the bad post-Christmas weather hitting the East Coast and California because stores typically allow 30 to 90 days to make returns and gift cards are generally good for years. . . .
