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The e-commerce landscape is heavily influenced by the calendar yr. Specific dates and seasons play a key role in shaping consumer behavior and sales trends. Recognizing these key periods—holidays like Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Back to School, and Christmas—is essential for online retailers looking to optimize their marketing and inventory management strategies.
According to latest dataDuring the 2023 holiday season, online spending increased by 6.3% year-over-year, while in-store spending only increased by 2.2%. These periods often see an increase in consumer spending, making them prime opportunities for e-commerce businesses to increase sales and attract latest customers.
As CEO of Flowwow, a global gift marketplace, I understand the challenges of seasonality firsthand. While our sales naturally peak around the holidays, we’ve developed strategies to smooth out these fluctuations and deliver year-round growth.
In this text, I share five key tactics that may help your brand overcome seasonality and achieve sustainable growth.
1. Diversify your products
Expand your product or service offerings to meet different annual needs. Starting as an online bookstore, Amazon has grown into a retail giant offering the whole lot from electronics and groceries to clothing and furniture. In 2023, Amazon’s total consolidated net sales revenue was 575 billion US dollars.
During the pandemic, Flowwow transformed from a flower marketplace into a one-stop gifting platform featuring local brands, resulting in a 77% year-over-year increase in orders. Initially focused on B2B e-commerce, it expanded into consumer-facing platforms like Taobao and Tmall, and entered international markets with AliExpress and cloud services via Alibaba Cloud. This diversification has fueled impressive growth, with Alibaba’s revenue skyrocketing by a staggering 1692.56% between 2014 and 2024.
2. Harness the power of diverse markets
Companies can create a smoother revenue flow by strategically targeting different markets with different peak seasons. For example, Flowwow successfully leveraged diverse cultural celebrations across 30+ markets. A Ramadan-themed card game campaign resonated deeply with consumers in the UAE, generating over 10 million media mentions. Similarly, Mother’s Day campaigns in Spain reached a broad audience by emphasizing the importance of cultural relevance.
Clothing retailer ASOS provides one other compelling example. ASOS has optimized its inventory and marketing strategies by identifying seasonal fluctuations in fashion preferences in different regions. For example, the company provides a solid choice of winter wear for markets in the southern hemisphere, while adapting to summer fashion trends in the northern hemisphere.
3. Build customer loyalty through relationships
Many larger firms devote a portion of their marketing budget to “customer satisfaction,” and it seems to be effective: consumers high emotional involvement select a brand 82% of the time. Positive experiences are the basis of brand name loyalty. Companies understand this, so they struggle to foster closer interactions with their customers.
As for 2023, Amazon ranks second on brand loyalty list. Benefits like free two-day shipping, streaming video, and Prime Day sales keep customers coming back. Amazon is continually striving to improve customer satisfaction by improving its delivery and achievement systems and creating latest products.
Focus on a convenient interface, related offers, friendly customer support and top quality services and you’ll see your brand satisfaction rate increase and brand affinity strengthen. Just 5% increase in customer retention can lead to stunning Increase by 25-95% in profitability.
4. Plan your peak days in advance
Peak seasons offer growth opportunities but can strain resources. Analytics and forecasting are key to smoothing out expenses throughout the yr. We base our expenses on the previous standard month’s revenue, allocating a portion to marketing and recruiting based on results.
Peak seasons can overload platforms. Unexpected bottlenecks can occur as we prepare by analyzing load, running tests, and scaling capabilities. For example, a payment processing partner might not be prepared for the increase. Customer service is key during these periods. Our large customer support and online repute management departments handle reviews. When negativity increases, other teams, especially marketing, are involved in troubleshooting. This is how we processed three million orders in 2023, achieving a 97% customer satisfaction rate.
5. Create your personal seasonality
Turn your low seasons into an advantage! For example, May-June is traditionally a slow period for gifting. Flowwow decided to experiment with launching a special Peonymania campaign and it was a success. We found inspiration in the seasonal flower – the peony – focusing on its beauty and limited availability (FOMO effect). Thorough preparation resulted in a boom of the peony-inspired collection – over 2,020,800 peonies were purchased through Flowwow and a record variety of 4,309 sellers worldwide participated in Peonymania.
While seasonality may be difficult, it also offers exciting growth opportunities. By embracing product diversification, tapping into diverse markets, fostering customer loyalty, strategically planning for peak seasons, and even creating their very own seasonal events, businesses can overcome these fluctuations and achieve lasting success.