Snow Storms Don't Boost Online Sales

When would-be shoppers can't make it out to the mall because of a snowstorm, they simply turn to their computer and smartphones to shop online, right?

According to a CNBC report, e-commerce and online retailers can't blame future poor earnings results to the massive snowstorm that crippled most of the northeast.

Several data points suggest snow storms and online shopping are negatively correlated, which actually marks a reversal from a trend that was observed back in 2009.

For starters, consumers actually buy more items online when they're at work than they do at home. The most recent snowstorm kept many people out of the office and had to deal with the consequences of the snowstorm, including shoveling themselves out or coping with power outages.

These theses are of course backed up by data. CNBC cited data from Adobe Analytics, which found that online shopping drops as much as 6 percent when a state is hit with a notable storm. This data point takes into account other variables, including the size of the state, seasonal trends and what day of the week the storm hit.

CNBC added that data from Cardlytics concluded cities hit with a blizzard results in a slowdown in online retail spend for an entire week.

"Think of it this way: In the past couple years, a normal city without a blizzard would typically see 14 to 15 percent year-over-year growth in weekly online shopping revenue," CNBC explained. "But a city with a blizzard sees only 10 percent growth. That 4 to 5 percentage point difference is the effect of the storm."

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