Shopping snapshot finds a focus on weather

Gap cardigans sold like hot cakes in balmy Miami, and new Boston-based grads spent their gift money on spectator-style Coach purses. In San Francisco, Sephora shoppers sought out something new.

That's a snapshot of shopping trends at three national retailers in three cities of varying personality and climate on a late spring day. The Associated Press asked them to track what was popular and craft mini profiles of the average customer. The idea was to find out what drives sales. Is it the weather? The news? The calendar?

All of the above, according to the companies and consumer behaviorists, but nothing is more important than finding products consumers crave -- and that's the multimillion-dollar question in this recession.

Next comes weather. This particular day was partly sunny in San Francisco, with a high temperature in the 60s; Boston was clear skies and 70; and Miami was wet, although still warm. Trouble in the U.S. auto industry dominated the news, along with Congressional oversight of credit cards. It was a Tuesday.

"You might be in the mindset of buying clothes for that particular kind of day," said Lars Perner, assistant professor of the clinical marketing department of University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. "In clothing, you have to be able to visualize yourself in a particular situation, and clothing purchases are caused by the expectation of a change in season."

There's also the issue of image, said Geoffrey Miller, author of "Spent: Sex, Evolution and Consumer Behavior." Shoppers buy brands with a personality deemed appropriate for their public personas, he said. "What people pay most attention to is their little peer world. They only care about the global economy or even fashion trends when they trickle down locally."

But Perner says shoppers are also copycats, whether they know it or not: If style influencers start wearing something, the trend can spread. So a paparazzi shot of a celebrity -- or, better yet, first lady Michelle Obama -- wearing an identifiable look is likely to spur sales considerably, Perner said.

Increasingly, ethics and ecological concerns are also on the minds of consumers who are looking at how and where an item was made and the sustainability of the materials, Miller said.

Here's what filled shopping bags on a single day in Boston, San Francisco and Miami:

Boston

It had been a rainy and cool early spring so when the weather changed for the better, there was a shift from basic colors to brights, said David Duplantis, senior vice president of retail, merchandising, marketing and planning at Coach.

Customers clearly had moved on to summer, even though there are weeks left in spring, said Melissa Duffy, regional director of New England for Gap.

San Francisco

The pocket-tank dress is considered a key item for Gap from coast to coast, said creative director Patrick Robinson, but while overall purple has emerged as a popular color, black and white are favorites in San Francisco.

Robinson said people are taking different routes to get to the same place: A sense of rebirth that comes with the onset of the summer vacation season. That tank dress, for example, is being worn with leggings and T-shirts underneath in San Francisco, but Floridians are using it as a swimsuit cover-up.

Miami

Sephora sun and skin-care products are likely to be self-purchases, whereas fragrance and some color cosmetics are often gifts, Slater said. The hottest colors here are bright blues and other pretty tropical shades.

The Gap store at the Aventura Mall is seeing a lot of people who packed their sunny-getaway clothes but forgot the basics, which this season include a cardigan, cuffed T-shirt and the belted linen cargo short, said Terri Lapido, regional visual manager for Florida.

Rain isn't always the enemy, Lapido said. "If people can't go to the beach, they shop."