Retailers cash on bad weather to boost sales

By Park Ji-won

The monsoon season can be good news for umbrella sellers but bad news for retailers because the rain prevents customers from visiting stores. However, some retailers are taking measures to boost their sales despite the bad weather.

For example, until the end of August, Lotte Department Store is providing helpful services to customers on rainy days to increase sales.

“We started providing services to make it more convenient for customers to shop during bad weather,” Lotte Department Store Executive Managing Director Jung Seuong-in said in a statement.

Department store staff stand near the entrances of the store to lend towels to customers who get wet from the rain. The staff also provide customers hot beverages and walk customers who forgot to bring umbrellas to the train station or their cars.

Food service companies are also running events to increase sales during the monsoon season.

CJ Foodville, the restaurant franchise operator of CJ Group, is providing discounts at its Chinese restaurant China Factory and salad buffet chain VIPS during bad weather. China Factory is giving a 30 percent discount on three spicy dishes when the temperature goes above 30 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, until Aug. 14, VIPS is providing a free bottle of wine to groups of more than four who come in with umbrellas, raincoats or rubber boots.

Similarly, Starbucks Coffee Korea has been providing rainy-day coupons in its yearly diary book since 2009 and through its gift cards since 2011. When it rains, it provides customers who bring a coupon a free cup of the same drink.

While physical stores struggle to attract customers during bad weather, online shopping malls experience the opposite.

Gmarket, Korea’s leading online shopping mall, saw a 50 percent year-on-year increase from July 1 to 21 in its rain-related products such as rain boots, instant food and especially dehumidifiers. Dehumidifier sales increased 130 percent year on year.

“Since the monsoon season started earlier than it did last year, customers wanted to prepare for the bad weather,” Gmarket Assistant Manager Lee Sang-min said.

Retailers have realized the weather can change sales figures, and thus, are using weather information to better manage their inventory.

“Fashion companies, retailers, manufacturers and energy companies have been requesting permission to use our weather information in estimating their orders. The weather changes directly affect their sales,” said an official at Kweather, a weather information provider.

BGF retail, operator of convenience store chain CU, provides weather information such as temperature, rain and precipitation on CU’s product-ordering machines since March 2001 when the machine was introduced.

“We provide weather information twice a day, so that convenience store owners can adjust the quantity of products they order,” an official at BGF retail said.