For some, summer sends sales figures soaring.
But hey, what when winter hits?
DARE hotfooted it to a bunch of hot-month businesses to learn their season-specific strategies.
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SEASONAL STRATEGIES
Some businesses see significant highs and lows in rhythm with the turn of season. Of course you cannot control the rise and fall of the mercury, but you certainly can take the right steps to make sure your business stays afloat.
What are these strategies? Reflect for a few moments, and the answers will suggest themselves. Broadly speaking, you could do one of three things:
1. Accept the change in weather and go slow, lie low or even shut shop
2. Do the best you can, under the killing heat/biting cold
3. Understand the season’s demands, and meet them head on
Our goal in this story, of course, is to meet and greet venture-buffs who like Option 3, and make it happen.
Let us examine each of your options one by one:
Option1: Lying low
You can lie low or close down. For example, a vacation cottage in the upper reaches of the mountains. While this may sound like a losing proposition, shutting down for the season can have many benefits.
The great one is: the opportunity to reinvent.
Many of the business people we met for this story said they see the lean months as an excellent opportunity to take stock of the shortcomings in their operations, and try to repair and rejuvenate as best as they can. Food-item sellers like ice-cream wallas and lassi makers cut down on labour costs and vacation cottage owners in the upper mountains utilise the time to make pending repairs and add more current/necessary features to their business. To stay updated, after all, is to stay ahead.
This can also be your opportunity to enrol in a course, undergo training, or do whatever else it takes to learn more about your enterprise and hone your skills.
Option2: Coping to the best of your ability
DARE came across people who do exactly this, and seem quite satisfied. A Delhi-based retailer who sells only summery chikankari kurtas, for instance, gives out his store on rent to a woollen-wear sales enterprise in the cold months. While he himself doesn’t have the resources or the energy to do an alternate business, he makes a neat profit through the simple strategy of letting out his space. Neat idea, we think!
Option3: Defying the seasonal slowdown
There are a number of things you can do to stay ahead of the seasons. Research yielded some valuable tips, but the most impressive of these was: diversify!
The examples of this abound. If you own a weight-loss clinic that seems to peak in summer, why not add your own line of food products? A restaurant can consider starting delivery and takeaway services, or open new branches. We stumbled upon a beachside restaurant in Miami, Florida, which did the smart thing and opened up a branch that was non-beachy, so that it could enjoy customers all year round. A wine seller began sourcing season-specific wines from several countries, so that whatever the month, his product was fresh and in demand.
Closer home, the owners of adventure tours and fun ventures such as The Ice Lounge make sure they stay in the public eye throughout the year, choosing aggressive marketing and social networking to do so.
Another obvious but very effective strategy: put up an attractive sale! You can reduce your end-of-season inventory this way, and who doesn’t love a discount? This has a great side benefit. If people can try your product or service during winter at an affordable price and find it truly useful or valuable, they will be willing to pay more during the summer months!
Let us now look at some highly popular summer businesses and see how they handle the seasons. But before that, let us leave you with these wise words from Dr. Michael LeBoeuf, author of the book How to Win Customers and Keep Them For Life. “A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of them all.”
1. Serene Green Pick a Plant
2. Sand in My Toes: The Business of Beachwear
3. Sanctuary - Studying A Simple Vacation Cottage
4. Cold Comfort for the Hot Months
5. The Ice Lounge
6. Of Hills, Thrills & Chills
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