Theme Park Operators Point to Challenging Weather in Recent Earnings Calls
August 24, 2023
“The weather continues to get in the way of what was originally forecast to be a strong summer for theme park operators,” according to the Seeking Alpha article Theme parks from California to Florida have been hit by worse weather than normal this summer. Industry leaders, Six Flags Entertainment, SeaWorld Entertainment, and Cedar Fair “all …
Retail Q3 Weather Impacts: Year-Over-Year Opportunity May Be Best in the West
August 23, 2023
U.S. retailers are in the middle of reporting Q2 results, and some chains have begun to warn about second half performance and lower earnings expectations due to mounting financial pressures on consumers. Inflation, interest rates, rising credit card debt, and the restart of student loan payment are some of economic headwinds retailers are facing as …
Weatherize to Personalize: Improve Advertising Returns by Targeting Audiences at the Right Time
August 17, 2023
An itmunch.com blog post entitled Programmatic Ads: Past, Present, Future discusses how “automated advertising has changed how brands and marketers reach the people they want to reach.” The blog post looked at how programmatic advertising has evolved through time, from its emergence in the early 2000s when real-time bidding “enhanced efficiency and transparency in the …
FMI Research: More Grocers Plan to Use Technology to Optimize Fresh Inventories
August 11, 2023
“Shrink in fresh departments is considerably higher on average, and food retailers have seen a small increase in their fresh shrink this past year,” reports the FMI in their 74th annual The Food Retailing Industry Speaks analysis. “Technology is helping to support a range of functions for fresh foods operations. Twenty percent of responding retailers …
Inventory Distortion is Projected to Cost Retailers $1.77 Trillion
August 4, 2023
Retail TouchPoints has summarized a recent IHL Study (Inventory Distortion Will Cost Retailers $1.77 Trillion in 2023) and highlighted the challenges businesses need to address even as many of the worst pandemic-era supply chain issues have faded away. “Inventory distortion, whether it’s out-of-stocks or overstocks, are a huge and costly challenge for retailers and suppliers, …
Southern Europeans Spend to Cool Down; Different Demand Impacts Emerge in Rain-Sodden Northern Markets
August 3, 2023
Record-breaking temperatures have been making headlines this summer with the globe as a whole logging its hottest-ever months in June and July with much of the coverage focused on the heat domes impacting the American southwest and southern Europe. Unsurprisingly, the conditions are having a huge influence on the activities people choose to pursue or …
Research Reports: Grocers Continuing to Focus on Analytics and AI
July 19, 2023
Supermarket chains are focused on leveraging data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve processes and customer experiences according to two recently released research reports. “Leaders are accelerating investments in many existing solutions and experimenting with new opportunities,” reports the FMI in their 74th annual The Food Retailing Industry Speaks analysis. The FMI notes that …
The National Retail Federation is Bullish on Back-to-School
July 14, 2023
WWD reported that the National Retail Federation (NRF) is expecting strong sales based on findings from their annual back-to-school (b-t-s) survey. The NRF projects that spending for kindergarten through high school will increase by 12.5% from 2022 and back-to-college spending will jump 27% year-over-year. “Back-to-class shopping is one of the most important consumer shopping occasions …
WSJ: Retailers Look to Fix the Forecast & Close Gaps with Analytics
July 13, 2023
An article published in The Wall Street Journal – Retailers Are Trying to Fix Their Supply-Chain Forecasts – took a look at how businesses are focusing on analytics, technologies, and data to optimize inventory management. “Retailers are turning to new technology and greater use of data across their supply chains… The efforts are aimed at …
June WeatherCall Report: Summer Sales Stall as U.S. Sees Coolest June Since 2009
July 7, 2023
Planalytics released its June 2023 WeatherCall report showing that demand for summer season products and services suffered due to cooler temperatures across much of the country, outside of Northwest, Western North Central, and parts of Texas. An example of the regional variance in terms of consumer demand impact: Shorts were up by a healthy 30% …