Do seasons impact your business? If so, how? 🍂🌷❄️☀️

[isabelle]

Hiiiiiiiii Seller Community! Hope everyone is having a lovely Wednesday wherever you are.

Today I'm wondering...

Do seasons impact your business? If so, how? Are some seasons more profitable than others? Is your business strictly seasonal?

Can't wait to read your responses! 🤓

[isabelle]

I'm assuming summer is your most popular month @ShavedIce? 😋🍦

[fibrre]

Great question!

The answer is Yes!

Seasons impact your business.
as well as the weather, location,

and time of day. 

Why?

Because people have buying patterns. 
Remember,  Customers are like you, when you have plans for the summer your not around your local market to make purchases.  The same for customers. 
if you have a brick and mortar store you may see a decrease in sales over the summer, or winter depending on your area pattern, because people may be traveling.

Here in Florida, summer time is slow.

Winter time is

In the summer it’s mostly local customers that are around, so for a restaurant they don’t get much traffic.  Most Locals don’t eat out as much. 

So With that, some restaurants close for the summer and reopen for the fall.

My business was seasonal but I decided to pivot to accommodate locals as well as visitors.  

[isabelle]

Thank you so much for sharing @fibrre ! It's true - I even have my own buying patterns (for some reason I shop more in the Spring...)!

🌷

[fireflychimney]

Hi Isabelle,

My business depends heavily on the season, as I am sure a lot of businesses are the same.

We are a Fireplace service business, servicing mostly gas operated Fireplaces. We can hardly keep up

from Oct thru March. When we do slow down, the other side of the business is a Garage Door service

business. This usually gets us thru the 5  mos of slow time. This  year has been unusually tough, even tougher

than last year with covid. Everyone I believe is making up for no traveling, and it's like a ghost town here in

Tucson, AZ. I dont blame them. They are escaping crazy heat!!

This is my slowest year or summer season ever!

Thx

James

Firefly Chimney Supplies

[isabelle]

Hey @fireflychimney 🔥 

Interesting. Living in Northern California (remains around 55-65 degrees year around), I have grown to appreciate fire places SO MUCH. So cozy! Sorry to hear that this was your slowest year yet, but I'm sure things will pick back up in the fall! 🍁 Nice to have the Garage Door service too. Very reliable (when folks aren't traveling)! 

[retwisttedd]

not really, and if it does, its for the better, i'm a hair stylist so a new season could be a holiday and people are more likely to book an apt.

[lmvc01]

Seasons definitely impact my business.

During the NY Winter my deliveries multiply because people do not want to go outside.

During the summers the evenings are much busier because they are returning home from parks or stores.

During heat waves and heavy rain the restaurant is extremely busy as well.

For the most part the eat in and take out service stays the same. We are not a seasonal business.

I would say spring is the least profitable for us because the weather is comfortable, school is still in session therefore people have less activity. Winter brings Thanksgiving and christmas which is Party time! We get an extreme amount of pick up catering orders.

[isabelle]

Sounds like you benefit in different ways each season. Happy to hear that evenings pick up in the summer ☀️

Thanks for sharing @lmvc01 ✨

[Cafebish]

Seasons don’t necessarily impact my business. More like certain months. The J months are my slowest. January, June & July. 
otherwise extremely hot or cold weather has an impact but for the most part seasons do not effect my business. I own restaurants. 

[Brandysmith23]

The J months are also my slowest as a salon owner & hair stylist. Isn’t that crazy? 

[JJS1]

Yes! Seasons for sure impact our business, but we adapt and change with it to keep customers coming.

We sell a little of any and everything. Spring/Summer months were our slowest months until we added fresh produce. 

[aspectscandles]

I've had a candle business for about a year now, and the post-holiday slump (January, February, March) has by far been the slowest time of year for me. Most of my sales occur around the October-November-Early December seasons as people do their holiday shopping. I basically have to stash some cash from the holiday boom to hunker down and ride out the slow season.

I have recently shifted tactics and started attending craft fairs, which traditionally run from April/May through December, and I had one of my biggest days ever last month, so I'm excited and hopeful for the seasons to come!

[cranoia]

yes, my stores are located in a seasonal summer resort town so we really only have from mid June to the 2nd week in August to make our year!

Web sales, marketing online help in the off season. It isn't for the weak of heart.

[BodyandSoul]

Summer is slow season here in South Florida

[bfcoffee]

I own a coffeeshop in a small college town, so summer is our slow season! It’s always super busy sept-dec. Slower like all food businesses jan-feb. Build up again in march, very busy april-may.  We are very much affected by the weather, plus things like Lent (SO many ppl give up coffee/caffeine/coffee shops!) We have always worked extra hard in the summers to make up for it with events, farmers markets, catering, etc, but after 14 years of that, I’m exhausted and trying to calm our summers down now so we can enjoy time with our young kids while they’re off school. 

[grovetealounge]

Seasons sure do affect us!  We are a tea lounge & cafe in Michigan.  During the summer we see a dip in sales - especially on Fridays and Saturdays - because so many people go "Up North" for the weekend to get away (lakes, cabins, etc). We try to encourage people on social media to stock up on their favorite drinks/snacks before they head out of town to take up north with them!

We also see a dip in sales during the first 2-3 weeks of each new season (end of the school year, beginning of the school year, after the 1st of January) as people try to find and settle into a new routine.  Once they find their new rhythm, our sales return back to normal

Mid-November through Christmas we see a significant increase in gift card sales and retail sales (mugs, bags of coffee/tea, shirts, swag, etc) to be used as gifts.

January and into February we see the typical slump in sales as people come out of the holidays, refocus on the new year, and tighten up their spending

[mtgg]

We operate a souvenir shop at the entrance to Yellowstone National Park.  The park is open seasonally, so we must be as well.  We have great sales in the summer and close for the winter.

[frannernickel]

I think it tends to be more of holiday vs. non-holiday for me. I get slammed with custom orders right before the holidays (this week has been crazy with the 4th being tomorrow) whereas I have to market a lot more in between holidays to get business. Definitely a lot slower, so not looking forward to next month when there's no big holidays 😕

[elicha869]

As a general contractor that specializes in remodeling, we are very much affected by seasonal changes. We consistently stay busy throughout the year but nothing like spring and summer! 

[Caleigh]

I would have to say that my boutique is both affected by seasons and holidays. Having a bath and body boutique is affected by the holidays as we primarily market to the female population. Marketing to both men and women would have been a very large market to hit. My top holidays are Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I have noticed a seasonal difference as well. My most popular seasons are Autumn and Winter. This makes sense due to the biggest shopping time of the year. It really slows down in January, February, March, April, June, and July! I usually do craft shows and vending events to keep up in the slow months.

[FinesseTheBuisn]

No seasons do not affect my business because I don't have to be outside all work is done wherever I need to be