Iceland is delaying the launch of its autumn range due to the increasingly warm weather in September.
The frozen food specialist’s boss Richard Walker said Iceland will push back its seasonal shift to mid-September. This includes expanding the range of pies, pastries, and other cool-weather favourites in stores, along with the related promotional activities.
He noted that the decision was made in response to the UK’s trend of wetter, cooler summers and warmer Septembers, highlighting how retail businesses are adapting to erratic weather patterns caused by the climate crisis.
“Last summer was a washout and it makes it hard with seasonal plans,” Walker told The Guardian.
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Other grocers said they had not postponed their autumn promotions, which are typically timed around the end of the school summer holidays as households begin preparing for Halloween and Christmas.
Sainsbury’s said it had always launched its autumn food ranges in mid-September, while Waitrose said it uses a “dynamic ordering system”, which adjusts store supply orders using weather forecasts.
The premium grocer is expecting sales of fresh British berries, which are benefiting from the warm spell, to continue into the later months of 2024 if the good weather continues.
Events like the Euros 2024 contributed to significant fluctuations in retail trading this summer.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show retail sales volumes dropped 1.2% in June, following a 2.9% rise in May.
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