☀️ Summertime Tactics to Boost Sales & Combat Seasonal Slowdowns

Hey business owners,

During summer, total sales historically drop by up to 30% when compared to holiday sale averages. This decline leaves businesses scrambling at times looking ways to make up lost revenue in the holiday season and pursuing other seasonal initiatives to make money in the meantime.

In this newsletter, we’ll address what summertime slowdowns are, why they happen, and share marketing tactics you can deploy to boost your sales.

In 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

✅ factors that contribute to summer sales slumps

✅ proven seasonal marketing tactics

✅ the latest trends and news relating to summer slowdowns

Why The Dreaded Summer Slow Down Happens ⛱️

While there’s no definitive answer as to why, there are few factors that when compounded could lead to slower sales.

Vacation Ripple Effect - Customer behaviors simply change in summer. Loyal repeat customers go out of town with their families and spend time and money elsewhere, customers shop less overall or buy different items online, and B2B decision makers go on vacation leading to delays in purchases with outside businesses.

Customers Have Less Free Cash Flow - The season can cause budgets to be shifted around which could lead to less online shopping. Think of families who see increased expenses for summer activities for their kids who are out of school.

The Weather - When the weather’s nice outside, customers venture outside away from their computers and tend to shop less online. If you’re a brick and mortar store however, the summer sun could be great for business and lead to an increase in store visitors.

*It’s also worth noting that the impacts of summer time slowdowns vary by industry. If you run summer camp, tourism, or wedding planning businesses, you may find your busiest months of the year are in summer and winter is slow.

Proven Seasonal Marketing Tactics ⚒️ 

While Summer won’t be the holiday season for many types of businesses, there are marketing tactics and internal strategies you can do now to prepare for the upcoming busy season and boost sales now.

Run a Social Media Contest or Giveaway - This is a simple way to generate engagement and drive views to your social media profiles and website. Bonus points for incorporating Summer in a natural way for your business.

For example: If you’re local gym, you could ask your customers on social media to post tips for how they keep up with their workouts while traveling using a specific hashtag. Winner can be randomly selected to win a prize such as a free month of membership or gym gear.

Attend Community Events - If you’re a brick and mortar store or a service based business, consider hosting a table or sponsoring your community’s Summer events. It’s a way to get your name out there and show customers you’re here for them and the community.

Add Value Instead of Cutting Prices - Cutting prices to stay competitive is not always the best play. You and your competitors end up fighting for who can have the lowest price when the real question should be who can add the most value for their customer at a specific price point?

For example: a clothing retailer could give away branded items like beach bags, water bottles for free with a purchase of $50 dollars for a set period of time vs. lowering all prices to be 30% lower for that same time period. Perceived value is higher with the free item with a $50 purchase.

Launch a New Item - Most new items for consumer goods businesses are launched in fall around back to school shopping time. Your business could stand out by launching a product in summer and not have as many competitors making noise around the same time period. Plus you can gauge your customer’s interest in keeping the product/service around for the long haul.

Collaborate with Another Business - If you’re an online business with a well-known brand, you could partner with a brick and mortar business to launch a special pop-up in their store(s). If you’re a book store, you could partner with a local café to make book club events with a curated menu. The business you partner with doesn’t need to be the same as yours but coming together, you can benefit both of your businesses and engage your customers in a new way during a slow season.

Consistently send out email newsletters - Seasonal promotions and offers won’t lead to more sales if your customer doesn’t know about them. Plus, setting an established cadence gives you an opportunity to share what’s going on in real-time and establish good will.

There are also things you can do now to recharge, get organized, and re-ignite excitement with your employees.

Summer is a great time:

Take a Vacation - Business owners deserve time off too. The work will always be there when you get back but this exact moment in time won’t be. Taking time away from the day to day benefits your physical and mental health and you gain a fresh perspective!

Optimize Your Website - If there’s been website to do’s on your list forever and it needs to be done, summer is a great time to take stock and take action to fixing and implementing new components.

Train Your Team - Help new and existing employees get prepped for what you have coming up. This is also a great time to learn where your team sees opportunities to create or clean up processes to improve overall efficiency in everything from content, product ordering, to finances. Bonus points for making this a fun training “retreat” with the team.

Take Another Look At Your Marketing - Is what you’ve done so far this year working? What’s not working? What will you change for Fall?

TRENDS 📈 , INSIGHTS 🧠 , & NEWS 📰 

• Retail sales rise slightly in June, but still below forecasts

• Amazon Fresh reveals top-selling summer groceries

• Keep the summer slump at bay

ABOUT VERSA STRATEGY

Chandler Kirkman is the driving force behind Versa Strategy. She’s on a mission to elevate businesses’ marketing and empower Creative Strategists to think big picture about the business landscape.

In the past decade, Chandler has consulted with over a hundred businesses of various specialities from Fortune 100 companies to local small businesses. By infusing branding, advertising, and marketing efforts with her signature blend of creativity, strategic thinking, and enthusiasm, she cultivates a dynamic and empathetic approach that helps business owners better connect with their customers.

LET’S CHAT! [email protected]

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