Seasonal Brands : How Smart Loyalty Can Help During the Off-Season

The Seasonality Problem for Brands: A Rollercoaster Business

There are countless brands out there with high seasonality. Whether you sell winter sports gear, swimwear, or weather-dependent products… the back-end management is often complex. This raises clear challenges regarding human resources, supply chain… but also brand performance. For executive teams, generating 80% of total revenue in just 3 months is a high-wire balancing act.

There are two possible approaches here. The first option is to accept seasonality as it is, and design a business plan that relies entirely on hitting yearly targets within a short window. The second option focuses on implementing strategies to turn the off-season into an active period.

In this article, we will focus primarily on the strategies used by brands that want to keep things moving during the off-season. When executed thoughtfully, customer retention becomes a powerful tool to mitigate the effects of seasonality.

Activate Your Customers Immediately Following the Peak Season

Right after the peak season ends, you are left with your seasonal customer database. This brings several key challenges to light. First, you need to retain this customer base for the upcoming season. It would be a shame to waste the acquisition efforts you put in from one season to the next. Here, nurturing the relationship with this audience is essential.

Furthermore, some seasonal brands do not hesitate to lock in repeat purchases for the next season ahead of time. They do this by offering “Buy now, get delivered later” options. Among other benefits, this secures a portion of revenue early on while cementing customer loyalty.

Additionally, granting exclusive perks to your warmest leads for the upcoming season can be a powerful incentive to keep your database engaged. For instance, providing your current customer base with a promo code valid for the next season is a highly effective way to achieve this.

A Seasonal Brand Receives Customer Signals All Year Round. Smart Loyalty Means Leveraging Them Continuously.

While it is true that for a seasonal brand, e-commerce transactions happen within a short window, every brand receives customer signals that can be leveraged year-round.

In reality, these signals come in many forms: a customer leaving a Google review, following your Facebook page, or even creating UGC for your brand on Instagram. These are all valuable touchpoints that should be handled during the off-season. During peak season, managing this influx is much harder because your teams are swamped. During the off-season, a seasonal brand typically enjoys more breathing room to be more present on these channels.

All of these signals should be leveraged to drive activity during the off-season, but also to prepare for the upcoming one. For instance, you can take advantage of the off-season to introduce two or three “less” seasonal product lines to target this specific audience, as well as your historical customers. Granted, business will be slower than during peak season, but it will help you smooth out the low points in your activity. If you don’t have the capacity to develop these products yourself, look into partnering with B2B players with whom you can split the margins.

Moreover, don’t hesitate to use these signals to secure the next season. Offering loyalty points or an incentive to someone who follows your page for the first time means grooming a future customer for next season. When the time comes (during peak season), the seeds you planted will undoubtedly pay off when it’s time to reactivate them.

The Tagether Team.