FORTUNE
“The U.S. Open turned exclusivity into a half-billion-dollar business.” Cites GhostCom Analytics’ $369.7M incremental-spend estimate.
Case Studies
Real events. Measured impact.
Deep dives into how GhostCom Analytics forecasts event- and weather-driven demand, and what the numbers showed when the forecasts met reality.
Case Study · SurgeCast™
The 2026 US Open
Our forecast of the spending surge around the tournament, later cited in Fortune and Yahoo Finance.
$369.7M
projected incremental consumer spending around the 2026 US Open, across hotels, dining, apparel, restaurants and nightlife.
1.18M attendees, +2.9% YoY$74.4M apparel + merch
It’s like having a sold-out MetLife game, day after day.
Yahoo Finance
Syndicated the Fortune feature with no paywall, broadening reach to a national business and investor audience.
Retail Brew
“Fashion retailers are capitalizing on the US Open’s impact.” Michael McNamara quoted by name.
Case Study · ESP
Hurricane Isaias
Isaias made landfall late Friday, October 9, 2026, as a Category 2 hurricane near Navarre, Florida, then tracked north through Alabama. Using our Eagle Vision hurricane model, the Impact Recap estimated the storm’s effect on retail, restaurant and hotel sales in the 161 counties in its reach, home to 10.4 million people, from October 1 to 24.
When a storm takes Saturday, it takes the day that pays for the week.
$1.34Bin Southeast sales disrupted
−$517Mnet sales loss across the impact area
−$144Mon Saturday, October 10, the costliest day
−$240Min Mobile-Pensacola, nearly half the net loss
Net sales impact by sector
Restaurants take the deepest cut; home improvement is the only gain.
Restaurants & bars
−$168M
Grocery
−$101M
General merchandise
−$71.5M
Home improvement
+$83.4M
Coastal evacuations add $92 million to the loss. Sales disruption counts dollars pulled forward, delayed, diverted to another geography or channel, or lost. Net sales impact is what remains after gains offset losses. Modeled estimates.
−$168M
Restaurants don’t get a stock-up day
Restaurant and bar sales fall 6.3%, the largest dollar loss of any sector. Sales at landfall were already 13% below normal the day before the storm.
−4.9%
Quick-service holds up best, except on the coast
The smallest decline of any restaurant format. In Okaloosa County, QSR sales still ran 73% below a normal Saturday.
$280M
Grocery’s stock-up can’t cover the slide
Sales ran 38% above normal on Thursday, then bottomed out 35% below normal on Sunday. Even with $48.9M in extra sales before landfall, grocery finishes $101M behind.
−72%
General merchandise loses its biggest day
Saturday sales in the four hardest-hit counties ran 60% to 72% below normal, on the most important in-store day of the week.
+$83.4M
Home improvement is the lone winner
Hardware and home improvement finish 8.6% above normal, on storm preparation before landfall and repairs after it.
2×
It could have been a Sally
Forward speed and rainfall predict lost sales better than wind category. With Hurricane Sally’s crawl and rain on the same track, the loss would more than double.
Plan for the next one
Hurricane season runs through November 30
The recap shows how a storm moves sales county by county, so inventory, staffing and ad spend can follow demand next time instead of chasing it. The full Isaias Impact Recap, with sector breakdowns for restaurants, QSRs, grocery and general merchandise, is available on request.
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