TOP 10 REASONS RETAILERS WILL REPORT BLOW-OUT OCTOBER SALES

October 2009 retail same-store-sales are announced Thursday, November 5th and the results are likely to blow away Wall Street expectations!  There are many reasons but most of those are due to the coldest, wettest and snowiest October in years which very likely trumped concerns over the economy and unemployment.  “We have already heard from some retailers that their overall sales are 5% to 10%+ higher than they originally expected due in large part to exceptional weather and, while Wall Street expects sales to be flat, we’re expecting industry gains of +1% to +2% or better”, said Bill Kirk, CEO Weather Trends International.  “WTI research on retail industry same-store sales show the most statistically relevant factors for stronger SSS gains in order of importance are more snow (definitely had that), colder temperatures (had that too), more rainfall (record breaking in some cases) and the least statistically significant is the consumer confidence index” added Kirk. Here are the top 10 factors impacting retail sales and Fall seasonal merchandise and why the news will be good on Thursday:

1. 2nd coldest October in 33 years for the nation as a whole and the coldest in 7 years.
2. 1,908 record low temperatures during the month driving strong Fall and Winter sales.
3. The month was -2F colder than last year and every 1F colder brings a +0.7% gain in retail same-store sales just due to colder temperatures driving seasonal sales!
4. Top 5 wettest October in 114 years with +85% more rainfall than last year.
5. Snowiest October in at least 20 years with +126% more snow nationally than last year’s snowy October.
6. Coldest Columbus Day weekend in 9 years – fantastic for Fall seasonal category sales and promotional events.
7. No hurricanes to disrupt store traffic.
8. Gasoline prices relatively flat to last year, only 5% higher than a year ago levels.
9. Consumer Confidence Index was only 48 but that’s actually up over last year’s worst ever index of 38.  While an important measure of how consumers feel about the economy, it has historically not been a good predictor of retail sales in October.  It is a very significant measure from December to March.
10. Retailers are up against a very easy October last year when retail same-store sales were the worst ever at -4.2% according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

PRESS CONTACT:

Bill Kirk, CEO & Co-Founder

(O) 610-807-3585 (C) 484-903-6887

About Weather Trends International:  The global leader of actionable year-ahead business weather guidance for retailers, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, agricultural firms, financial equity and commodity analysts.  Clients include some of the world’s most respected and successful companies like Wal-Mart, ASDA, Target, Kohl’s, AutoZone, Sherwin-Williams, Anheuser-Busch, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, SC Johnson, JP Morgan, Agway, Hershey’s and over a hundred fifty others.  Its business centric weather solutions and understanding of how consumers respond to the weather is used throughout organizations to help "manage the weather risk”.  Utilizing technology first developed in the early 1990s, Weather Trends International’s unique statistical math based trade secret formula forecasting methodology projects temperature, precipitation and snowfall trends by day and week a year-ahead for 52,000+ locations across the globe (all 195 countries) with an industry leading 80%+ accuracy.  WTI is recipient of 5 business/technology awards this year:  2009 winner of the Red Herring North America technology award, 2009 winner of the American Business Award for Most Innovative Company of the Year, International Business Award for Most Innovative Company of the Year in North America and Forbes #5 Most Promising Company of the year.  Offices in Bethlehem, PA, and Bentonville, AR.  Visit http://www.wxtrends.com/ or http://www.myskeye.com/ for more information.