There is a pretty big connection between weather and sales that is not explored often enough. Past weather data can give you deep insight into how the seasons affect sales and help in planning sales strategy.
By looking at weather history by date and location, you can start to see patterns. Weather impacts sales, but are some product sales more “weather-sensitive” in certain regions than others?
What past weather data tells us about alcohol sales
To really get a sense of what you can accomplish with the right data, we’ll look at some specific sectors and how sales can be weather sensitive.
A great example is the connection between alcohol sales and historical temperature data by zip code.
Yes, there is a connection.
Some of it is instinctive, of course. We know that beer and hard seltzers do better in the summer across the board. However, the relationship between weather history by date and location and alcohol sales is more pronounced in certain parts of the country.
We used our past weather data to understand the relationship between temperature and beer and hard seltzer sales. Looking at historical temperature data by zip code, we found that the relationship between beer and hard seltzer sales and weather is actually at its strongest in colder parts of the country!
As we looked at past weather data, patterns began to emerge. Sales of beer and seltzer in states in the northern part of the US see a correlation of 0.7 with temperature. Meanwhile, southern states sales’ correlation coefficient is weaker at 0.3. Interestingly, the relationship is also strong in areas that have greater fluctuation in weather.
How weather history by date and location can optimize sales
Diving in further, we looked at historical temperature data by zip code to understand if sales are affected by weather sensitivity. We found that resort towns tend to see the strongest correlation between temperature and beer and seltzer sales even within the same state. Suburbs, on the other hand, do not seem to be impacted by weather at all.
The past weather data shed a lot of light on consumption habits and can be instrumental in crafting sales strategies. Having access to weather history by date and location allows companies to develop better sales and promotions while ensuring that they are prepared for when demand will peak for certain products.
After careful analysis of the data, the main takeaway was that having access to historical temperature data by zip code can be a massive advantage in sales. With accurate and precise data, companies can predict and prepare for greater swings in demand in certain zip codes due to their weather sensitivity.
Weather history by date and location gives companies and brands a distinct advantage that can help drive sales and optimize products and offerings to match customer needs.
In light of these findings, take some time out to think about your sales strategy. How does temperature or rainfall impact your sales? And are specific markets by zip code more weather-sensitive than others?
Past weather data can be incredibly helpful in uncovering patterns and trends that can help increase sales and help you better predict demand.
