It’s Summer time and everyone is soaking up the sun at the beach. You and I included! So what does that mean for retail businesses and how does that affect your sales? Well, from my experience it doesn’t necessarily mean zero sales, but it does mean you may not want to splurge on that steak dinner or island vacation just yet!
In the retail industry, there’s a little thing called Seasonality. Seasonality determines the scale of sales throughout the year and which months will be the slowest and the highest for selling products. This generally applies across the board for e-commerce and brick and mortar.
Here is a great chart that shows what you can expect by month in terms of sales:
Below are some of my tips and tricks for staying busy during the slow months even though sales may not be flowing in:
1. Organize Inventory:
I like to do a full inventory count to make sure I know what I have in stock and can decide what I will need to reorder for the busy season! This will make your life so much easier and I tend to feel at ease once I have a better idea of what we have in stock. (Sometimes, it’s the simple things that matter most!)
2. Push Social Media:
What I mean by this is spend a few extra hours a day specifically focused on creating some great content for your social media accounts so that you can gain more followers that will buy from you. The more followers you have, the more people will consistently see your brand and have a better chance of purchasing when they are ready to splurge or need a special gift for someone!
3. Update the Website:
Sometimes we all get so busy that we just don’t have time to update our websites! Maybe you have some new products that aren’t up yet. Double check your story- has it changed? Are there any press appearances you want to showcase or highlight somewhere? Maybe you want to just spruce it up a bit and change the layout!
4. Design/Create New Products:
This is the most fun part of having a business. During the down season, I design and create new products for the new season! This includes new jewelry pieces, new handbags, and of course new Cookie Cup flavors!
No matter what season it is, remember to stay positive and keep pushing your business forward! It takes time to build a business so put the time in and it will pay off!