Surviving Summer: eCom Seasonality 2024 Trends

Hey there, summer’s already here 😎

And that brings up an important question — have you ever thought about why your ecommerce store doesn't get consistent sales all year round?

Especially during the summer, it feels like flipping a coin — you either survive and try to break even or thrive with positive green numbers on your screen 🤑

The culprit here is seasonality, and we’re going to give you a full breakdown of why your store can peak or dip depending on the time of year — and tell you exactly how to make sure sales are consistent 24/7/365!

1. What is Seasonality in Ecom & Why You Should Work With It ☀️

When we talk about seasonality within ecom, it isn’t about the rainy days or sunny weeks — it’s about the fluctuations in sales volume that occur at different times of the year.

These changes are mostly driven by specific times of year, holidays, events, and shifts in consumer behavior, all of which can either be a challenge or an opportunity for your store.

Below we can see the rough interest over time in rain jackets — they were most searched for in April & May, the peak season, while during off-peak seasons, sales can drop by 40%:

This also goes for items like Christmas tree decorations, a market that reached $8.3 billion in 2022, with over 80% of sales concentrated in the weeks leading up to Christmas — and a plummet in off-peak seasons by as much as 90% fewer sales.

While these are pretty extreme examples, we now understand that analyzing the seasonality of your store is pivotal, and it’s also important to adapt to the months when your sales dip to minimize losses, and even turn a profit.

2. Every Type of Seasonality 🌥️

There are a lot of seasons every year, and many of them can be the hidden reasons why your store may be underperforming during certain months, let’s cover each of them:

1️⃣ Holiday Seasonality
Sales surge during periods like Christmas, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. People are buying in a mood, looking for gifts & taking advantage of discounts.

P.S. — Have a look at our post on BFCM (Black Friday & Cyber Monday), where we covered everything you need to know to optimize your store for these specific events & make more sales.

2️⃣ Event-Driven Seasonality
Back-to-school season, Mother’s Day, and summer vacations are key examples. These events drive demand for specific products like school supplies, gifts, and travel accessories.

3️⃣ Weather-Based Seasonality
Products like winter clothing, summer gear, and holiday decorations see fluctuations based on the weather.

4️⃣ Sporting Events
Major events like the Olympics, World Cup, and Super Bowl can drive significant sales, especially for related merchandise.

Some peaks or drops really make no sense, further proving why analyzing and trying to understand how seasonality affects your store is essential.

Now, let’s get into how summer impacts your sales & how to make more money this summer (right now).

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3. How Summer Affects Your Ecom Store 🏖️

During the summer, the demand for travel accessories, beachwear, outdoor equipment, and other summer-specific items skyrockets. Products like swimsuits, sunscreen, sunglasses, and coolers see a significant increase in sales.

And with more people engaging in outdoor activities and travel, there’s a shift in consumer behavior. This means increased spending on items related to outdoor sports, camping, hiking, and travel.

It’s also important to mention that consumers are on the lookout for seasonal discounts and promotions — summer sales events like Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day can drive significant traffic and sales

All of this is key to take note of, you should brainstorm how you can adapt your store to the summer. Let’s now get into the specific strategies you can implement to optimize your store for the next three summer months!

4. How To Optimize Your Store For This Summer 🤿

There are so many ways to make more sales during this lovely time for everyone, but we’ll note 5 that cannot be skipped:

1️⃣ Seasonal Inventory Management 

Stock up on summer essentials — analyze past sales data to predict high-demand items and ensure you’re well-stocked if you sell items like sunglasses and swimsuits.

2️⃣ Create Seasonal Landing Pages and Content 

Make your site visually appealing and relevant to the season — create summer-themed landing pages and posts highlighting your summer sales, special promotions, and seasonal products. This not only attracts visitors but also enhances their shopping experience by amplifying their already existing summer excitement & vibe.

3️⃣ Optimize for Seasonal SEO 

Use tools like Google Trends to identify popular summer-related keywords. Integrate these keywords into your product descriptions, posts, and meta tags to improve your search engine visibility. This makes it easier for potential customers to find your store when searching for summer products!

4️⃣ Craft Seasonal Marketing Campaigns

Launch targeted email marketing campaigns offering summer discounts and special deals — utilize social media platforms to promote your summer sales, using seasonal hashtags and fitting visuals to capture attention and drive traffic to your site. This perfectly leads to our last point:

5️⃣ Leverage Influencers and UGC 

Collaborate with influencers (micro & macro) who resonate with your target audience to promote your summer products — host summer-themed contests and feature customer photos on your site and social media. This creates authentic engagement and can significantly boost your brand’s reach.

P.S. — Read our post on TikTok Shop, where we covered A-Z everything you need to collaborate with micro-influencers & start a viral chain of UGC around your products!

That’s that, ecom brand owners! In this post, we covered everything you need to know about the culprits of your dips in sales, the types of seasonality within ecom, and how you can make a wave of money this summer!

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Daniil from ECORN