Outdoor eating is big business in the UK. The summertime trend that sees delis, farm-shops, restaurants and wine specialists offering anything from a freezer of ice lollies shoved optimistically in the corner to pre-packed deli lunches, picnics to go, and even ready-made hampers that come with their own butler service. After all, you can fine dine on gastronomic loveliness in the cooped up confines of an overpriced restaurant, or you can break free and take it to the great outdoors.

Of course, there’s always a “but” when it comes to outdoor dining in the UK, and that’s the weather. It’s unpredictable, and that unpredictability has an effect on sales at the till.

“Weather” accounts for around 4.5% of overall sales in the UK. We are weather dependent shoppers, and if you’ll excuse the pun, whether it rains or shines, your profit or loss can often be determined by the temperature outside. Too hot and we stay outside, too cold and we stay home. So it’s always worth planning for all eventualities.

Tesco supermarket uses a system that cross-checks an accumulation of 5 years’ worth of data with information about every product in every store, every day of the week. Treeva Fenwick, Head of Broadcast and Consumer Communications at Tesco‎ says that this allows them to accurately predict what people want, enabling them to appropriately stock their stores. Their weather system is so specific it can even indicate the temperature at which sales of burgers will go up!

Now very few of us have Tesco's budgets, but there are still principles of seasonality that we can take note of and opportunities to be maximised whatever the weather.

The worldwide pandemic has created the circumstance that’s forced new ways to shop in-store or from the comfort of our homes. As the weather in the future starts to become even less predictable, retailers will again need to think outside of the box and embrace omnichannel retailing, new services and experiences and fresh ways to shop – online and offline.

Regardless of the weather, one summer trend that’s a great profit booster but also easy to implement is taking advantage of our love for a good old-fashioned picnic, and it’s the perfect opportunity to cash in on the benefits that add-on picnic services can have on retail sales. WBC has all the outdoor picnic packaging you need to make a successful start.