A Summer Slowdown or a Seasonal Switch?

Many people understand during the summer months there tends to be a slowdown in sales, but they donâ€™t understand why. From my understanding itâ€™s not so much a slowdown sort to speak, but a switch in demand from indoor products to outdoor products.

During the summer monthâ€™s people tend to be outside more often than in the winter months, and so they do more outside activities. A lot of people tend to go on vacation for example, or pursue more outdoors hobbies. The fishing industry as well as the camping industry has their busiest time in the summer months. Many other retailers by contrast, such as DVD rental or toy manufacturers have their slowest period then.

There are some industries that constantly have steady sales all year long. For example clothes manufacturers that sell both summer and winter ranges, or stores that sell essential products such as bread and milk, or newspapers. The sale of these products isn’t affected at all by the weather or seasons, because hot or cold, they are still needed by most people.

suncartoon So in fact it really isn’t the case that businesses in general tend to slow down in the spring and summer months. The reality is that there are just different types of businesses and different retail sectors that are going through their own busy times. This shows us that to an extent many products are more seasonal than they might appear to be. Most people when asked to name a seasonal product would say ice cream. Obviously more is eaten in the summer then the winter. But it seems to be that all non essential retail products are seasonal to some extent.

So what can you do about it?

Like I say all the time being diversified keeps you going. I like to sell a mix of must have products and entertainment products. I find my entertainment products tend to sell better during the summer months and educational products do better in the winter months. If youâ€™re struggling this summer, think about what youâ€™re selling and how much of a demand it really is these days. Just know diversification is the key to success in anything you do.

If youâ€™re having trouble finding the perfect product to promote this summer, I recommend using Google Trends. With Google Trends, you can compare the worldâ€™s interest in your favorite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often theyâ€™ve been searched on Google over time. Google Trends also shows how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and in which geographic regions people have searched for them most.

For example here is a trend search for Nike Shoes..

nike-trends1

As you can see Nike shoes search tends to peak around August, obviously for the new school year. And again around Christmas for gift giving. That’s when you’ll see the most sales for Nike shoes.

fishing

Okay now we look at fishing equipment. As you can seed during the summer months is when fish equipment is more popular, but during the winter months it’s pretty much an afterthought.

Give Google Trends a try and see how you’ll do this summer.

Good luck everyone!