Be ready for the hot weather when it finally comes! Making the right lines available and easy for all your customers to find, is the key to ensuring a successful summer season.
Of course the weather can impact sales of certain categories, but how much does it increase sales? We compared weekend sales of products to see how well categories performed during a hot week against the previous cooler week.
Last summer the hottest weekend was 17th & 18th July with temperatures reaching 29.7°C on Saturday and 31.2°C on Sunday. Temperatures during the previous week, 10th & 11th July was 22.8°C.
Ensure you have ice pops on hand – they store well in a store room until the weather improves and freeze overnight so they needn’t take up valuable freezer space until needed. Keeping a stock of these items also means you’re ready ahead of the curve.
Summer Temperature - Ice Cream
| Product | Increase in sales (vs prev week) |
| Ice Pops | +190.2% |
| Ice Lollies | +146.6% |
| Slush To Go | +95.3% |
| Ice Cream | +92.3% |
| Ice | +92.0% |
| Non-Dairy Ice Cream | +43.5% |
Hydration is critical during hotter weather, as shown by these soft drink sales.
Seeing the sun as infrequently as we do, when it does shine, we need to get prepared and quickly! Sales of sunglasses, sun cream and hayfever medications increase.
We need to get the drinks in – whether it’s a family barbeque, a picnic in the park or an evening get together on the beach, hot weather makes us thirsty. Long drinks win here – especially cider which clearly matches the summer vibe! A variety of new cider flavours means they appeal to a wide audience.
Summer Temperature - Drinks
| Product | Increase in sales (vs prev week) |
| Still Water | +58.7% |
| Sparkling Water | +40.9% |
| Flavoured Water | +40.9% |
| Iced Tea | +31.4% |
| Juice Drinks | +28.4% |
Summer Temperature - Sun Care
| Product | Increase in sales (vs prev week) |
| Sunglasses | +114.4% |
| Suncare | +93.2% |
| Hayfever or Allergy Relief | +18 |
Summer Temperature - Alcoholic Drinks
| Product | Increase in sales (vs prev week) |
| Cider | +12.6% |
| Speciality Beer | +11.4% |
| Spirit Based RTDs | +10% |
| Hard Seltzers | +6.6% |
| White Wine | +0.1% |
Summer Temperature - BBQ
| Product | Increase in sales (vs prev week) |
| Fresh Meat | +89.7% |
| Charcoal | +55.5% |
| Disposable BBQs | +39.2% |
| Firelighters | +38.7% |
| Frozen Burgers | +38.5% |
| BBQ Lighter Fluid | +35.7% |
| Bread Rolls | +29.3% |
| Bamboo Skewers | +19.6% |
Of course, we all like to take advantage of every bit of nice weather – when the sun shines we like to eat outside. We see an increase in sales of BBQ products when the temperature goes up. Most people haven’t planned a barbeque during their weekly shop, but they decide in the morning that the weather is suitable, so your store can provide for last-minute BBQ needs.
