Let’s Face It…
Juggling a business in summer isn’t easy when you’d rather be out having fun. 
Summertime – that time of the year when everything slows down and moves out of doors. “Less work, more play” is often the motto found on the minds of many. It’s a time when you spend a day at the beach or lake, or take an afternoon off work just to be outside. Kids are out of school for the summer. Vacations and holidays are on the schedule. Outdoor activities take front seat.
Juggling a business along with these summer activities can be hard. It’s also a time when many online business owners see a slow-down in sales. When consumers are reaching for the sunblock instead of their keyboards it can affect your bottom line. Online business owners, especially those who work from home, have to juggle now only their businesses, but also kids if they are in the home.
Why do sales slump in the summer, though? There are many factors.
One is the fact that most kids are out of school, so families are spending time with their kids and on vacations away from their computers. Another reason is consumers are spending money on summer activities for themselves, instead of online purchases.
A slow-down can occur in just about any online business at any time, but most often occurs during the summer, unless your business has a different seasonal focus.
A recent analysis of summer shopping habits of online consumers by the web analytics firm SumAll (source: https://sumall.com/) shows that gross sales for online merchants in July decline 30% from December levels.
This is data they collected from over 3,000 merchants within their analytics program over the past four years.
The data shows that consumers spend less per order during the summer with July being the lowest.
In addition:
- August sales pick up during the final week of the month, for back to school sales.
- Monday is the day most likely to have large ticket purchases.
- Wednesday is the top sales day of the week during the period from June to August.
- Friday is the day of the week when a greater number of expensive items are purchased.
- Saturdays and Sundays are the least likely days to have sales.
A slow-down doesn’t have to be a time of giving up on sales for the summer, though.
In fact, in this series we’ll look at ways to boost your sales during this time while still enjoying the fun of the summer season.
You’ll learn how to manage getting work done, even if you have kids in the house. You’ll also find tips on how you can keep your business running while you’re on vacation.
Stay tuned for part 2 coming next…
Wishing you an enjoyable rest of your summer and time to unplug!
