The blizzard that struck the Northeast on the day after Christmas, typically the third or fourth busiest shopping day of the year, left many industry prognosticators speculating on whether greater markdowns would be forthcoming for the retail industry.
Parts of New York and New Jersey received as much as two feet of snow, keeping many shoppers at home. Several stores closed early Sunday evening as weather conditions worsened and delayed openings on Monday.
The day after Christmas is largely known for returns but stores put additional merchandise on sale to drive incremental purchases. They also hope clearance sales will be scooped up during the day to avoid the need for steeper promotions later on.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Richard Jaffe, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, predicted that Sunday's major snowstorm could hurt December same-store sales by 1 percent to 1.5 percent. The last week of December contributes about 15 percent to 20 percent of overall December sales, and just under one-third of national retail sales take place in the snow-hit areas, Mr. Jaffe said.
Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, told Bloomberg News that promotions may be extended into January.
"It's like throwing a party and nobody comes because the focus has gone from post-holiday shopping to post-holiday travel," said Mr. Cohen. "Look for sales to be repeated by retailers. They're going to be more aggressive. They've got to throw another party."
On the positive side, the storm's arrival in the early afternoon at least led to strong morning sales. Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, also told Bloomberg that customers will likely just come back over the next few days to return merchandise or redeem gift cards.
Pete Nordstrom, president of merchandising at Nordstrom Inc. told the Journal said he wasn't overly concerned about the blizzard although the day after Christmas generally ranks as one of the retailer's top-10 days.
"It seems like there's always some bad weather somewhere," Mr. Nordstrom said. "We don't really get too caught up in it, because we have absolutely no control over it."
The blizzard came as a surprise. Forecasts in the affected regions over the days prior called for a dusting to a moderate snowstorm.
Discussion Questions: How critical is the day after Christmas to a successful holiday period? What impact do you think the Northeast blizzard will have on December's sales? Should or can retailers be planning better for storms and other weather incidents?