Blame It On the Rain, Again?
For Immediate Release
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Wal-Mart today released its worst monthly same-store sale results in 28 years, and continued its ongoing pattern of blaming poor numbers on the weather. Issues not discussed on Wal-Mart’s sales call this morning: The company’s persistent reputation problems, its failed urban expansion strategy, its health care struggles, its “Threat Research” surveillance operation and bad publicity stemming from the Dukes v. Wal-Mart gender discrimination lawsuit.
Listed below are a compilation of weather-related excuses from Wal-Mart, dating back to 2001:
2007: Bad April Weather Hurt Us. “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted its worst monthly same-store sales results in at least 28 years, tallying a 3.5% decline in April… In a recorded phone message Thursday, Wal-Mart blamed bad weather last month in most U.S. regions and the early Easter on April 8, which pushed many Easter sales into March.” [Wall Street Journal, 5/10/07]
2007: Cold February Hurt Us. “Retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Federated Department Stores reported weak February sales on Thursday, saying the month’s cold temperatures and stormy weather hampered results. But upscale department stores and Wal-Mart rival Target Corp. bucked the trend, posting stronger-than-expected comparable-store sales figures, and some retailers said they expected the Easter holiday to help their March results.” [Reuters, 3/8/07]
2006: Cold, Late Easter Hurt Us. Rising fuel expenses are hurting Wal-Mart’s lower-income customers, and Easter’s shift to April and unseasonably cold weather caused shoppers to delay purchases.” [Bloomberg News, 4/1/06]
2005: Cold Spring Hurt Us But Not Target. “Wal-Mart said unusually cold spring weather and higher gasoline prices were to blame for the disappointing quarter, but retail analysts said something more fundamental is afoot. After all, both retailers had to endure poor weather; yet Target’s same-store sales increase – a key retailer yardstick – were more than double those of Wal-Mart in the quarter.” [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 5/13/05]
2005: Maybe It’s Not The Weather After All? “‘Wal-Mart can talk about the weather, about high fuel prices, but it’s becoming very evident that they aren’t executing the way they should,’ said Joseph Beaulieu, a retail analyst at Morningstar, a mutual fund research firm based in Chicago.” [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 5/13/05]
2004: Cold May Hurt Us. “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. lowered its forecast yesterday for June sales growth at stores open at least a year to a range of 2 percent to 4 percent, citing low temperatures and disappointing Father’s Day results. The world’s largest retailer said that key categories were flat this year compared to last year, when it had its best week of the summer. A week ago, Wal-Mart had indicated that June comparable-store sales were tracking at the low end of its earlier estimates of 4 percent to 6 percent growth for the month. Wal-Mart said sales this past week were hurt by unseasonable weather.” [Columbus Dispatch, 6/29/04]
2003: Cold November Hurt Us. “Or could it be that two other factors are affecting sales? The poor weather on the East Coast surely discouraged some shoppers. And Hanukkah comes late this year, which may have kept some buyers on the sidelines in the weeks before and after Thanksgiving. But Wal-Mart draws a relatively small portion of its sales from the Northeast, and neither weather nor the calendar seems to have taken a toll on high-end retailers in the region.” [Slate, 12/16/03]
2003: Bad Weather And Iraq Hurt Us. “Wal-Mart recently reported the worst same-store sales in two years. Bad weather, the war and a late Easter were cited as some of the factors in the poor performance.” [DSN Retailing Today, 4/21/03]
2003: Cold September Helped, But Warm October Hurt. “From a sales perspective, August was the strongest month, with September declining from that level and October weaker still. I think August benefited from the last of the child care tax credits, and the heavy clearance. September benefited from the cold weather that happened early in the month. And October was slower due to the unseasonably warm temperatures that we had throughout much of the United States.” [Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, Pre-Recorded Earnings Conference Call, 11/13/03]
2002: Cold April Hurt Us. “Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, said cold, wet weather in late April was largely to blame for a monthly same-store sales gain of 3.3 percent, slightly below expectations.” [Boston Globe, 5/10/02]
2001: Cold December Hurt Us. “Weather did hamper our sales in some parts of the country,” said Wal-Mart spokesman Rob Phillips. The beginning of the holiday season proved to be rough for Wal-Mart, which failed to meet its projected sales results for three consecutive weeks in December. [Home Textiles Today, 1/1/01]
