This is a short basic article that will basically tell you, for the most part, what to expect during a calendar year in the general product sales business.  If you've been selling online for at least one entire year, you should already know this.  If not, you'll know it after reading this article.

 

Of course Christmas is the busiest time of the year.  Even online, you'll see that the closer you get to Christmas day, the more orders you'll get.  Keep in mind that it takes roughly five business days for a standard shipped package to reach a customer, in some cases longer.  So unless you offer a free 2 day or 3 day shipping upgrade (the customer pays regular shipping price), you'll see a big drop off in orders a week before Christmas.  This free shipping up grade offer will cost you around $5-$7 per order, but depending on what you make per order it could be well worth it.  For my fashion accessory business, the free shipping upgrade meant I received 1,700 orders the last week before Christmas instead of maybe 400 without the shipping offer.  Since most people are last minute shoppers, I made roughly $9,000 extra profit by offering free shipping that last week, so it worked for my business.

 

Here’s how sales varied month to month for my businesses.

 

(Excellent, Very good, Good, Average, Poor, Terrible)

JAN = Very Good

FEB = Very Good (if applicable) (Valentine's Day)

MAR = Average

APR = Poor

MAY = Good (if applicable) (Mother's Day)

JUN = Poor

JUL = Poor

AUG = Poor

SEP = Average

OCT = Good

NOV = Very Good

DEC = Excellent (Christmas)

 

The above table is with all things being equal, selling general products like purses, household items, clothing, etc.  Obviously if you sell sunglasses, bikinis, body jewelry everyone else's poor months are your good months. 

 

All things being equal means your advertising is generally the same.  If you've never advertised your business, then spent $1 million in advertising in July, you'd probably have your best month since you opened your business in July.  All things being equal, Christmas time will be the best time of year for most if not all. 

 

Overall people spend more money and are online more during the cold months.  August is back to school month, this costs parents a lot of money, and it's also the last month to go on vacation with the family.  This makes August a killer for sales. 

 

Most of our sales came during Mon-Fri during business hours.  Many people shop while on the job.

 

Why is this so important to know? 

 

1.)  It will help you to budget your earnings so that they last for an entire year.

2.)  You know when and when not to advertise.

 

The rule is the better the month the more you should advertise and vice versa.  Common sense but you'd be surprised how many people don't know this.

 

The logic for many business owners is to advertise more during the slow months because they need more sales.  But this will not work because people just do not spend money in the slow months.  This means your response rates will be terrible no matter how many ads you place.