Planning for Peak Sales Time
As a small business owner, understanding and preparing for your peak sales time is crucial for maximizing revenue and growth.
Meet the Experts
Kevin Chung
Kevin is a Marketing Principal at FedEx, where he supports e-commerce strategy and go-to-market execution. He has strategic expertise in e-commerce and online retailing including multi-channel marketing and communications. Kevin has proven experience working with customers on website development, online engagement, channel management and marketing technology implementation. He is also tasked with evaluating emerging e-commerce technologies, marketplace trends, impact of AI on e-commerce and providing thought leadership content to FedEx customers. Before joining FedEx in 2007, Kevin was a Vice President Associate Director at Digitas; a digital advertising and marketing agency located in Boston.
Sensi Graves
Sensi is the owner and founder of Sensi Graves Swim. Sensi is a professional kiteboarder, confidence expert and empowerment speaker. Sensi Graves Swim is a sustainable swimwear line for active women. She helps people feel like they’re enough now by sharing the story of becoming a pro kiteboarder and starting a business before she believed that she could. When not traveling for photoshoots or speaking gigs, Sensi runs women’s kiteboarding retreats and camps and mentors on confidence and business.
Identifying Your Peak Sales Time
Every business has its own unique peak sales times. For some, it might be the winter holiday season. For others, it could be tied to specific events, like a florist around Mother’s Day, or seasons, like an ice cream shop in a touristy area during summer or an accountant during tax season. Peak sales can also be linked to wide reaching promotional opportunities, like being on a national news program or being recommended by an influencer who is in touch with your target audience.
How to identify your peak sales time:
Predicting peak sales time is an art, not a science. When it comes to maximizing sales during times of increased customer interest and sales, planning is key. However, before you can plan, you have to know when you are planning for. Here are some tips for predicting periods of increased sales:
- Review historical sales data, if you have it
- Analyze customer behavior patterns using industry data, social media, and customer interactions
- Consider industry trends, seasonality, and influencers
- Monitor competitor activity, sales, and promotions cycles
Using tools like Google Analytics, POS (point-of-sales) systems, and CRM (customer relationship management) software can provide you with valuable insights into your sales patterns. While numbers are important, they only tell half the story: qualitative data is essential to understanding your sales patterns. Talk to your customers and frontline staff to gather information that doesn’t come out in the numbers on their own.
Data Sources and Tools for Predicting Seasonal Sales Times
You can use multiple data sources and tools to predict your peak sales times:
- Sales records: Analyze past years’ sales data to identify patterns
- Website analytics: Track online traffic and conversion rates
- Social media insights: Monitor engagement and interest in your products
- Industry reports: Stay informed about broader market trends
- Weather forecasts: For businesses affected by seasonal changes
- Economic indicators: Consider how broader economic trends might impact your sales
- E-commerce trends reports: FedEx and other large corporations release e-commerce industry reports that can provide key insights for smaller e-commerce businesses
Investing in a robust inventory management system can help you track sales trends and forecast future demand more accurately. Sometimes your POS system will also have inventory management capabilities.
Preparing for Increased Sales
Once you’ve identified the time periods where are you are mostly likely to have increased sales, it is time to prepare. Here are some key steps to craft a peak sales plan:
- Forecast inventory needs based on previous years’ data and consumer preferences over the past year
- Ensure you have enough staff in place to handle increased demand
- Test and optimize your website. For e-commerce businesses, it is especially important to test you payment system and sales funnel as well
- Plan marketing campaigns in advance and have all your assets ready to go
- Prepare your supply chain for increased activity by ordering ahead and talking to vendors about your anticipated needs
- Make sure your finances are strategically organized to be prepared for peak sales and the costs (marketing, inventory, etc)
- If you need additional financing to prepare for your peak sales season, apply for financing sooner rather than later
- Not having a plan in place if you sell out of inventory (like offering pre-orders or the option to sign up and be notified of restocks)
- Neglecting customer service during busy periods
- Not planning for post-peak follow-up
- Ignoring employee well-being during periods of high demand
Strategic Marketing for Peak Sales
It can be challenging to complete with larger corporations during major sales events, but small businesses have unique advantages. Consider these strategies:
- Focus on personalized customer experiences and telling your story
- Offer exclusive products or services
- Market to all influencers in the household, not just the primary customer (for example, adult partners can influence each other and parents influence children)
- Create targeted, local marketing campaigns
- Communicate with your customers early, often, and throughout the sales process
- Collaborate with other small businesses for cross-promotions
- Emphasize your unique value proposition and what makes you different from the large corporations in your industry
- Engage with customers directly by following up on comments and encouraging customers to share your posts
- Share time-sensitive offers and updates
- Showcase products through live videos or stories, if your target customers are on platforms that favor video content
- Encourage user-generated content and reviews (and be sure to follow-up with any comments or reviews)
- Build anticipation for upcoming sales or events as part of your small business marketing strategy
Customer Communication Strategies
Effective communication is key during peak sales time to keep your customers happy and engaged. Best practices include:
- Being transparent about shipping times and stock levels
- Providing multiple channels for customer support
- Using automated responses for common queries (like an automated chat bot or an FAQ page)
- Personalizing communication to your customers’ unique interests and profiles whenever possible
- Proactively addressing potential issues or concerns through customer communications
- Check-in with customers after the sale, as well
E-Commerce Businesses and Peak Sales Time
E-commerce platforms offer both advantages and challenges during peak sales time. Benefits include:
- Ability to potentially reach a wider audience
- Easy implementation of time-limited offers like holiday or seasonal sales
- Real-time inventory management, if offered by your e-commerce sales platform
- Detailed analytics of your sales platform
- Increased competition from businesses of all sizes
- Technical issues during high-traffic periods
- Managing customer expectations for shipping and delivery (especially when competing with big corporations that can offer faster or cheaper shipping)
- Potential for fraud or security breaches
To overcome these challenges, ensure your e-commerce platform is robust, mobile-friendly, and can handle increased traffic. Implement strong security measures and have a plan in place for dealing with technical issues quickly.
Effective Promotions and Discounts
During peak sales time, you can boost sales by offering the right promotions for your target audience. For example:
- Limited-time offers to create urgency
- Bundle deals to increase average order value
- Loyalty rewards for repeat customers
- Free shipping thresholds to encourage larger purchases
- Early access for email subscribers or loyalty program members
- Consider the timing of your ads- it may not be worth it to try to complete at times when major corporations are heavily advertising or consider advertising differently
To successfully balancing discounts with profit margins, you will need to plan carefully and with your data in mind. Analyze your costs, consider your overall pricing strategy, and focus on promotions that drive both sales and customer loyalty. Remember, the goal is not just to increase sales volume, but to maintain profitability.
Emerging Trends in E-Commerce Marketing
Stay ahead of the curve by keeping an eye on these trends:
- Sustainability and ethical consumption messaging
- Personalized shopping experiences through AI
- Social media integrations
- Mobile-first shopping experiences
- Subscription-based models
Incorporating these trends into your peak sales time strategy can help you stand out from competitors, appeal to modern consumers, and increase your profit margins in the long run. Be sure to keep an eye on your marketing analytics metrics to discover emerging trends and evaluate your marketing campaigns.
Expert Tips for a Successful Peak Sales Time
Experts recommend the following best-practices for a successful peak sales season:
- Start planning early: at least 3-6 months before your predicted peak
- Focus on building long term customer relationships, not just transactions, year-round
- Use data to inform your decisions, but don’t forget the human touch and it’s power to build customer connections and business strategy
- Be prepared to adapt quickly if strategies aren’t working as expected
- Train your staff thoroughly to handle increased demand
- Don’t neglect your existing, loyal customer-base in pursuit of growth
- Consider extending your customer service hours during peak periods
- Analyze your performance post-peak to improve future strategies
Remember, peak sales time is not just about short-term gains. It’s an opportunity to create lasting relationships with customers that will benefit your business year-round.
Post-Peak Sales Strategies
The work doesn’t end when your peak sales period is over. Here’s what to do after:
- Analyze your performance data
- Follow up with new customers to encourage repeat business
- Gather feedback from customers and staff
- Start planning for your next peak sales cycle
- Consider strategies to smooth out sales between peak periods
Here’s an example of one of FedEx’s post peak sales reports: Post-Peak Holiday Sales Report