By Jamie Barrie W ell according to a recent report by JPMorgan Chase Institute, shoppers spend 3.5 percent less in grocery stores, gas stations and other retailers in the month following the end of daylight savings time. Shoppers spending a little less may not seem like something that would make much of a difference, but to businesses it can be a huge problem in an already tightened economic market that its selling retailers struggle and in some cases close altogether.
The study compared the shopping habits in Phoenix, which does not use daylight savings time, to shopping habits in three other cities that do; Los Angeles, Denver and San Diego.
Research shows that in the cities that have daylight savings time that shoppers made fewer trips out to the stores, resulting in fewer overall purchases. Looking at results for Los Angeles, shoppers spent about 4.6 percent less on fuel, 4.8 percent less on retail shopping and 5.9 percent less in grocery stores in the 30 days following the end of daylight savings time, which is surprising giving that Black Friday happens in this time period also. According to spokesperson Craig Shearman, despite indicators that daylight savings time may be tough on retailers, the National Retail Federation is historically on board. The organization, which represents retailers across more than 45 countries, including the U.S., “strongly supports” daylight savings time.
Industry experts also agree with Shearman stating that the end of daylight savings time boosts the economy by pro- v i d ing more hours for shoppers to be out spending money, which does not seem to
follow the research data at least not in these three cities. In saying that, research data was only looked at over two months, rather than the stretches of time between the
transitions, and cannot show if the reduced spending will have any lasting impact on businesses over the year. So all eyes will be on Black Friday’s sales results to see what effects the end of daylight savings time will have on shoppers this year.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017
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