Ever wondered how your supermarket manages to have just the right amount of burgers available when it’s barbecue weather and warming soups when it’s chilly?
The answer lies in sensitive forecasting techniques that can predict in astonishing detail how what we buy will be affected by even minor changes in temperature.
For example, when the mercury rises from 68 to 75°F then sales of hamburgers will increase by 42%, according to research from Tesco.
A ten degree rise on a summer weekend can mean customers want 300% more barbecue meat and 50% more coleslaw, but demand for green vegetables will fall by 25%.
Cold weather sees sales of cauliflower soup, long life milk, sausages and root vegetables soar. Tesco said yesterday that it had introduced a system based on 15 years’ research into shopping habits to make sure the right items were on the shelves.
Weather reports for 15 regions are taken and orders from local depots are increased and decreased automatically during the day.
They found we are deeply affected by the ‘first’ weekend of winter or summer.
As soon as it turns bitterly cold, hot chocolate and bird feed fly off the shelves. Whereas the first hot weekend can see strawberry sales increase by 20%.
One thing does not change throughout the year, we always buy more salad on a Monday, having over-indulged over the weekend.
A Tesco spokesman said: ‘Even a few degrees change in temperature can result in a significant shift in what people buy. It’s vital to ensure we have exactly the right amount of product on the shelf every day of the year. It also means we don’t order too much, which keeps food waste down.” Ian Michaelwaite, who provides forecasts for around 30 small chains of shops, said: “There is a 4.5% weather impact on sales of food, and 6$ for clothing, which can make a difference to profit and loss.” Source: Daily Mail
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