Five to Thrive: Summer Weather

Summertime is filled with holidays and opportunities for gathering with family and friends. As many events take place outdoors, the weather plays an important role for small businesses. These weather-driven opportunities highlight how small businesses can lean into all types of weather conditions to ensure they best serve their customers and communities.

1. Think flexibility and adaptability

Outdoor events become more commonplace as the thermometer rises. While consumers plan for ideal weather, Mother Nature doesn’t always fully cooperate. Small businesses can be agile when conditions require people to move inside or adjust their plans. Think of the outdoor wedding party that scrambles for ponchos, or the graduation cookout that suddenly needs fans and citronella — stocking these as a bundled 'weather-ready' end cap can turn a shopper's stress into your sale.

2. Lean into the ‘cool’ factor of shopping

When temperatures get extremely hot, small businesses can provide a welcome refuge for shoppers looking to beat the heat. Having a “hydration station” near the front door and signs inviting customers to “come in and cool off” are just a few tactics to drive store traffic. Small businesses can highlight these offerings on social media to drive traffic during days of intense heat.

3. Make your store a destination

For many consumers, summertime represents a more relaxing and less scheduled time. Small businesses can lean into the fact that many customers have more time to shop and spend extended time in stores. Consider activities such as in-store events, community fairs and extended hours to enable customers to spend more time shopping.

4. Clear summer, win fall: Your back-to-school playbook

August begins retail’s fall season, and back-to-class shopping season for many students around the United States. This season ramps up in July, which is typically the peak of summer heat for many markets. Small businesses can price and market appropriately during the final weeks of the summer selling season based on inventory levels, margin targets and incoming floor set dates. It is a great opportunity to clear summer merchandise and get a headstart on selling early fall merchandise at higher margins.

5. Get ready for stormy weather

The Atlantic Hurricane season officially began on June 1. Last year no hurricanes made landfall in the continental U.S. for the first time since 2015, though tropical storms still caused significant damage. Small businesses in coastal and flood-prone areas should never let a quiet season create a false sense of security.

Businesses should have a plan in place to address storm impacts on customers, employees, inventory and facilities. As an example, operators in flood-prone areas should keep sandbags or water-diverting devices on hand and ensure merchandise is elevated off the floor. Consider investing in a generator to address power outages. With some basic preparations, there are many simple yet highly effective ways for small businesses to remain vigilant and minimize the impacts of a tropical system.

For additional information including updated insights, please visit NRF’s WeatherIQ page, which is published regularly in conjunction with industry partner Planalytics.

The views expressed in this content are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the view of the National Retail Federation. This content is provided for educational purposes only and does not imply indorsement by NRF.

Questions? Contact Evan Gold, EVP Global Partnerships & Alliances, Planalytics, egold@planalytics.com.