Lucy Tobin: Sun shines a light on what’s really wrong with retailers

“The temperature in the UK across the three months to July [was] 1.5 degrees centigrade warmer than the 30-year average,” SSE whined. But those slightly warmer temperatures only saw domestic gas demand fall 10%.

Sure, the sunny weather did cool SSE’s output from its wind farms, but not considerably. Shareholders might like to dig into SSE’s wholesale costs and customer exodus for another cause of its scorched profits.

The excuse has a long precedent though. Chocolatier Thorntons used to be the maestro of the weather-related whinge, feeding investors a series of gloomy profit warnings which blamed the cold and hot weather alike for shoppers failing to cross its thresholds.

The gist was, when it was hot, profits fell because no one fancied a sticky brown snack, and when it was cold, the ice cream freezer at the front of most Thorntons stores was about as popular as Donald Trump in Mexico.

Just as the retailer was struggling to make half the profits it did when it floated on the stock exchange in the Eighties, Thorntons was gobbled up by European rival Ferrero to put an end to its stock market moans. And given Ferrero is headquartered in Italy, it’s presumably used to responding to the sun.

A handful of specialists are obviously closely aligned to the weather. It’s been a stellar summer for ice cream parlours, sprinkler manufacturers, and butchers, but you wouldn’t want to be a store specialising in Canada Goose now.

Shops that are good at flogging stuff still flourish under a hot sun, as they do in the depths of a cold snap. Contrast Thorntons’ moans with Hotel Chocolat’s latest results, where promoting its chilled drinks, fridge-cold “choc ices” and ice cream helped revenues jump 12% in the year to July, despite it too being a chocolatier. “We don’t,” said chief executive Angus Thirlwell, “just hide in the shade until the summer’s over.”

Meanwhile, faltering, messy shops with don’t-give-a-damn staff will struggle for those reasons, but blame the heat.

Earlier this month DFS complained “exceptionally hot weather” led to “significantly lower-than-expected order intake”. Sure, the heatwave has affected High Street footfall, but smarter social media, free in-store ice lollies or more enticing ranges might have helped.

The chain’s downturn can have nothing to do, of course, with the fact that it’s had some version of a blue cross sale on for the past 17 decades, making a seasonal promotion null and void.

Likewise, homewares chain Dunelm hid behind the shadow of the sun as it sold fewer curtains and clocks and warned on profits. Its struggles must be totally unrelated to any problems at a firm which has had three chief executives in less than four years.

Retail is obviously at a crossroads: some bricks-and-mortar chains have been too slow to react to online, others are shutting stores. Profit warnings by FTSE-listed retailers have doubled in the past 12 months, according to EY.

With household incomes drying up, corporate Britain will always want to blame something new for its doldrums and hitting out at “red tape” doesn’t have the punch that it once did.

But shops and all types of businesses need to drop the weather excuse and focus on facets they can control. Faster reactions to changing temperatures might be a good start.

Well-run businesses cover themselves in SPF when the sun comes out.