Severe Winter Batters Food Retailers
Progressive Grocer
By: Thad Rueter
As if the pandemic and mass vaccination efforts were not enough for food retailers in early 2021, now comes the impacts of extraordinarily frigid and snowy weather across many parts of the country. . . .
. . . The importance of retailers keeping track of winter weather — and crafting appropriate responses — was driven home late last year via a National Retail Federation interview with Evan Gold, EVP of global partnerships and alliances for business weather intelligence firm Planalytics. Gold has more than 20 years’ experience in retail and wholesale, working at Macy’s and LakeWest Group before joining Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based Planalytics in 2005. He spoke with Washington, D.C.-based NRF about the ways weather impacts retail and the supply chain, and the discussion serves as a reminder that a virus isn’t the only wildcard that retailer face this year.
One message?
In the longer term, retailers and consumer will turn to technology to deal with climate variations, especially when it comes to supply-chain issues.
“The customer has more access to information at their fingertips and the ability to shop whenever they want,” Gold said. “As the weather becomes more volatile, the shopper is shopping based on need. If you layer in weather and can have an idea of what they’re going to buy, or do more prescriptive analytics, and be able to market and advertise into that, they’re more likely to buy from your brand.”