Topic: Impact of Weather on Consumer Behavior and Retail Performance: Evidence from a Convenience Store Chain in China

Speaker: Tian Xin CAS Research Center On Fictitious Economy & Data Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences-School of Economics and Management

Time: April 19, 2024, 10:00

Venue: Room 319

Organizer: Economics and Management School of Wuhan University Department of Management Science and Engineering

Abstract:

   Despite extensive use of weather data to adjust replenishment and inventory strategies in the retail industry, these companies do not clearly know the effect of weather on consumer behavior and retail performance. How does weather affect consumers' purchasing behavior and thus retail performance? We study empirically these questions by analyzing more than 6 million transactions made by more than 1.62 million unique consumers at 146 convenience stores in a convenience store chain in China. We choose sun, rain, temperature, and air quality index as the main weather variables. We use the average number of items per order and the average price of each item in each order as indicators of consumer behavior, and use store daily sales as an indicator of retail performance. We found that under rainy weather, people will buy more products with higher item prices in one order. When temperature rises, people will buy fewer products with a lower item price in one order. In addition, sunny weather and rainy weather have a positive impact on daily sales than cloudy weather. Air quality has a negative impact on daily sales, while temperature has a positive impact on sales. Finally, we study the impact of weather on different product categories. We find that the results depend on the product category characteristics.

Guest Bio:

   Tian Xin, a professor and doctoral supervisor, currently serves as the Assistant Director of the Virtual Business Research Laboratory at the Research Center for CAS Research Center On Fictitious Economy & Data, and the Deputy Director of the Department of Digital Economy and Virtual Business at the School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. His primary research areas include virtual business, retail/e-commerce/mobile commerce, and information systems. He previously held positions as a visiting professor at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and a researcher at the City University of Hong Kong Business School. He has collaborated with the renowned Chinese economist and management scholar, Mr. Cheng Siwei, to propose, develop, and promote the theory of virtual business, establishing the discipline of virtual business. He has been responsible for the research and application of virtual business in industries such as retail, e-commerce, logistics, and ports. During this time, he also served as a senior consultant, senior data analyst, consulting director, COO, and deputy general manager at several well-known IT, e-commerce, and business group companies. He co-founded a leading retail logistics and supply chain information service provider in China and was part of a vertically integrated e-commerce company that ranked among the top three in the country. He also co-founded a Shanghai municipal enterprise technology center (provincial-level) in the field of retail informatization/digitalization and several municipal-level enterprise research and development centers. He has published over 100 academic papers in top-tier or renowned academic journals both domestically and internationally, including Management Science, Information Systems Research, and Production and Operations Management, and has authored three academic monographs published by Science Press. He has contributed four cases to the China Management Case Sharing Center, receiving the 13th "National Hundred Excellent Management Cases" award. His graduate students have been admitted to PhD programs at prestigious overseas business schools with full scholarships each year. He has received six provincial-level science and technology awards, including the Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award, and two municipal-level science and technology awards.