Seasonality has a major influence on the apparel industry. Due to the rise of online shopping, changing consumer patterns, unexpected events like the pandemic, and climate change, the “normal” seasonal cycle for apparel businesses has changed drastically. Retail owners now face the challenge of adjusting their pricing and overall business strategies to match these changes.
Adapting to seasonal demand is a critical component of a profitable pricing strategy. Without an accurate demand forecast, it’s much harder to set and implement the best prices for your products or services.
Knowing these two main types of seasonality changes will help businesses come up with more accurate forecasts and strategies:
Man-made Seasonality:
This is caused by external factors or demands such as events. For example, branded merchandise is commonly sold out during the Olympic games, beauty and hair salons have plenty of customers during prom and weddings, and accounting service demand increases during tax season.
Natural Seasonality:
This seasonality is brought by the natural changing of the seasons. The demand for food, clothes, athletics, and equipment changes based on the season. For example, there is a higher demand for gift items, custom packaging, and Christmas-themed products during the holidays.
Whichever the seasonality is, your business should be ready. Here are some tips on benefiting from seasonality and making the most of your apparel business.
Pre-season Marketing
Get consumers excited about the upcoming season. When the rainy spring weather is getting people a bit down, let them be excited about the coming summer. You can create ads online – an unveiling video of your unique or limited product, a lookbook featuring your collection, promoting sales and discounts, utilizing popular influencers in your campaigns, and so much more.
In this case, your prospects might turn to your company for their first seasonal needs.
Take Advantage of Slower Periods
It’s unlikely that you will be busy all day, every season, as most businesses have quieter times. These lulls are an excellent opportunity to do tasks you cannot accomplish when your business is busy. Slow times also allow you to develop long-term business plans, catch up on your stock take, and improve warehouse organization.
Adjust Your Offers Based on the Season
The end of the season doesn’t mean the end of your business. It is vital to be flexible and creative to keep your customers interested. Pivot to make your products and services relevant despite the changing seasons. Expand. Find services and products that you can include in your offerings.
Update Your Online Presence Accordingly
Stay active online. Update your website and social media channels to reflect the seasonal changes. Design sales campaigns for the changes in weather and holidays. Run email campaigns to keep connected with your mail subscribers. Let them feel that you are always around and your products are a hundred percent ready whenever they need them.
You can also create compelling content and use excellent images reflecting your brand adapting to the changing seasons.
Get Rid of Your Excess Inventory
The end of the season may leave you with excess inventory. It’s hard to sell ski jackets in the summer or swimwear during the winter. If you want to eliminate excess inventory, sell them online or in stores at reduced prices. You can also run promotions such as free shipping, buy more, save more, giveaways, price match, and many more.
Hire an Offshoring Partner
Now that your business is prepared for the changing seasonality, it’s best to anticipate that you may be swamped and may not be able to manage everything all at once. One great way to cope with this demand is offshoring. Hire an offshoring partner who can help you handle day-to-day tasks like communicating with the suppliers, shipping your products, managing operations, and focusing on customer service.
You can build an offshore team to handle various tasks for your business, so you can focus on strategizing and implementing your growth plans. You can hire offshore resources to expand your capacity in the following areas of your apparel business:
- Customer Service & Sales
- Digital Marketing
- Merchandising Support
- Finance & Back Office
- eCommerce & Digital Support
- Account Management
- Tech Support
- Logistics & Supply Chain Management
Satellite Office is Your expert Offshoring Partner
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Our tailored offshore outsourcing solutions give businesses full control of their remote team’s productivity, output quality, and targets, while we provide comprehensive support that makes managing offshore employees as simple as possible. Experience a full-service model, including premium facilities, HR, IT infrastructure, account management, and payroll support services, with no hidden fees.
