What the Super El Niño means for retail
Just when merchandising and inventory management seemed complicated enough, thanks to shifting tariffs and rising costs, along comes the strongest El Niño weather disruption on record.
El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, a climate pattern where sea surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean rise near the equator, setting in motion weather anomalies across the globe. Its impact will be strongest in North America and during the fall and winter months.
As a result, this year’s event, already dubbed Super El Niño in some quarters, is destined to upset seasonal merchandising plans — unless retailers prepare for it.
“This is going to be a year that we’ve never experienced before, and anytime you’re in business, the goal is to reduce the amount of uncertainty to reduce the risk in your sales plans, and so we’re absolutely seeing that more than ever this year.”