Business Seasonality: Definition, Types, Process, and Benefits

Businesses across the globe can experience periods when the demand is at its peak or dries out during an off-season. The entire year is hardly the same in terms of demand for any business.

Businesses see a spike of over 60% because of certain events, and if you have the right information, understanding, and tools, you can ride the demand wave and cash in the results.

If you are an entrepreneur or a small or medium-sized business owner, you must consider the business seasonality of your delivery business.

No business is spared from the rollercoaster of demand. Business opportunities vary depending on consumer behavior, even if your business isn’t seasonal. It hardly stays steady, for any business, throughout the year.

If you have questions regarding seasonality, stop your worry. This article will answer your queries to help you yield the best possible results.

What Do You Mean by “Business Seasonality”?

Business seasonality refers to predictable changes that occur over a one-year period in a business or economy based on the seasons including calendar or commercial seasons. Seasonality can be used to help analyze stocks and economic trends.

Business seasonality can be described as the change in the demand for a product caused by various seasonal patterns. It can be due to some events, seasons, or holidays.

For example, let’s talk about Christmas—the busiest time for retail businesses. Christmas time shows a peak seasonal pattern where the demand grows exponentially for retail businesses, whether large, medium, or small. 

With the increase in business sales, the delivery demands also rise. According to the National Retail Federation survey, in 2020, total retail sales in the holiday season reached $789.4 billion. Online and other non-store sales account for $209 billion of these sales.

Similarly, in its 2020 edition, Cyber Monday became the biggest online shopping day in US history, hitting approximately 10.8 billion US dollars in online sales.

These sales numbers may vary depending on the type of business seasonality.

What are the Types of Business Seasonality?

Business seasonality depends on consumer purchasing habits. Consumer activities can be studied over a certain time to understand consumer habits. Many triggers and associated activities result in spikes and downfalls in demand. By studying the spending habits, seasonality can be described into three major types:

1. Moderate: 10%–20% increase in demand
2. Significant: 20%–40% increase in demand
3. Rigid: More than 40% increase in demand

Let’s use the example of a food delivery business to describe business seasonality.

1. Moderate change 

On any holiday, the food delivery business expects a minimum increase of 10% more orders since consumers are more likely to order food online.

2. Significant change 

Every weekend, the online food delivery business expects an increase of around 30%-40% in orders. Many people get together for a party, people gather to watch a sports game, and multiple other reasons account for this increase in demand.

3. Rigid change

Any major event such as the Super Bowl, NBA finals, presidential debates, and many other seasonal factors are responsible for bringing about the busy seasons.

So if you are in a food delivery business, watch out for the next Super Bowl event as it can bring about great orders and be prepared with the right tools to yield the best profits.

But multiple factors affect these types of seasonality. Have a look.

Which Factors Affect Sales Seasonality?

Different businesses are affected by different reasons, which cause fluctuations in demand. Some common factors are mentioned below.

1. Seasons and weather

You don’t need to be an expert to see the changes in consumer behavior due to seasons. Multiple B2B and B2C businesses are affected by the change in weather conditions.

Any change in weather conditions plays a crucial role in consumer demand and can significantly impact the revenue you will generate.

A study found that in rainy weather, people will buy more products with higher prices in one order.

2. Holidays 

Most businesses expect growth in demand during the holiday seasons. And Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year. Halloween, St Patrick’s day, and Valentine’s day help increase the revenue of all major sectors. 

The retail market and online delivery businesses see the biggest jump in revenue around this time. Likewise, in February, as Valentine’s day approaches, consumers spend the most money on jewelry and dining out.

3. Online sales

Multiple events like Cyber Monday and Black Friday increase the revenue for retail and electronic items. These events decrease shipping costs, making them more exciting for buyers. The digital nature of these sales helps smaller companies make great profits. Delivery personnel is usually the busiest around the time, fulfilling all the orders. 

4. Sporting events

Superbowl, UFC matches, NFL weekends & NBA all-stars are just a few of the events which will surely bring much-expected growth to the businesses. Local businesses see a major increase in food orders and jersey sales around the time. But how can your delivery business handle a business seasonality with finesse? 

How to Implement Business Seasonality Successfully?

It is imperative for any business to yield the best possible results in peak season. As a business owner, you need to understand the below-mentioned factors to come out of the particular season with the best possible results:

1. Understand the cycles of your industry

Thomas Redman described it best when he said, “Where there is data smoke, there is business fire.” To make business seasonality successful, understand the data and the cycles of the seasonality and plan. 

2. Plan ahead:

After studying all the possible trigger events, the next part is careful planning. You don’t want to be befuddled when the demand arises and lose out on making significant profits. 

3. Use of right tools:

Don’t underestimate the use of the right tools to make your business successful and grow exponentially. The right tools can ease your worries and will assist you in making the right decisions when it will matter the most and let you stay ahead of the competition.

4. Keep track of your results

Analyze the sales data and ensure all the positives and negatives are worked on. Always have the hunger to expand on the positives and the determination to work on the negatives to get better results for the future.

5. Keep the process streamlined 

The simpler and more streamlined the process is, the better the output will be. Always keep it simple.

Let’s go ahead with an example of business seasonality for a delivery company to better understand the right implementations required to make the best of the peak.

If you run a delivery company and Christmas is right around the corner, this could be a big opportunity to increase your profits exponentially and have a “Merry Christmas.”

You will need to hire more delivery executives to make on-time deliveries and keep your customers happy. Depending on the growth you expect, it’s always better to be prepared with all the resources you will require to make multifold profits.

You also need to be equipped with the best possible software, which will help you handle the increase in demand and ease your worries. 

To be specific, dedicated route planning software can help you minimize your operational cost, optimize your delivery resources, improve profitability, and create optimized and shortest delivery routes for increased business efficiency. 

This is exactly what Upper Route Planner does.

Once you have a solid in-house business ecosystem by integrating a professional route planner, you can avail the perks of business seasonality.

What are the Perks of Business Seasonality?

Business seasonality can help you in multiple ways. Find out the details below to better understand the perks of business seasonality.

1. Business expansion

Business seasonality helps businesses to expand beyond their regular customers and touch base with new customers. In a peak season, demand will be very high, and there will be no better chance for any business to tap into the customer base, which is still unexploited. 

Acquiring more customers is the most crucial part of any business, and seasonal shifts give you the best chance to grab the opportunity. It is the time to hire new employees and become a big player.

The busy period requires extra hours, and be prepared to give it your all.

2. Self Analysis

Seasonal changes in demand will affect your business. There will be a slow season. When the peak time is over, use it as a chance to improve the product and business strategies. 

Since the demand will be less, you will have a good amount of time to experiment with the product. 

You can try out different permutations and combinations to understand what can help you increase the target audience and profitability.

Low seasons are the best for introspection, and that’s what business is all about. Use this time well to streamline the process for the next peak season. It is the time to sow what you want to reap later. 

You can work on the planning of multiple marketing strategies and execute the marketing campaigns which will help you reach out to potential customers. 

3. Reduce Cost of Operations

Since the peak is less, you can reduce costs and save money. You can also analyze and optimize your business performance and minimize expenses to focus on cost-cutting. 

Reducing the cost can help you with operations, inventory, and resources can help you save up money. If you can, don’t hesitate to loan out some of the resources you won’t be requiring.

You can integrate a delivery route planner like Upper to minimize your operational costs and increase your business profits.

How Does Upper Help You Make the Most of Business Seasonality?

Upper Route Planner is an excellent delivery route planning and optimization software to help you handle the seasonal rise in delivery demand.

We at Upper know the problems and issues a small- or medium-sized delivery business faces when handling the delivery part of the peak season. 

Since this would be the best time for you to make profits and optimize your resources to the best and yield great profits during the peak season. 

You make more profits, and we assist you with that. Now let us brief you about the precise points by which we make the stress and planning a lot easier for you.

Route optimization algorithm

We at Upper have created a powerful route optimization algorithm that creates fast and simple routes so a driver can do multiple-stop deliveries. 

The route planning option will let you cut down 95% of your route planning time and give you a hassle-free route plan so you can put your efforts into the product and not on the delivery.

More deliveries with optimized routes

We know how important it is to use the resources efficiently. Upper ensures all the resources are utilized to the fullest without increasing the cost. 

Our powerful route optimization will help you make the planning and delivery process much easier. , so you make the best out of all the resources. 

Let’s just say if you have 500 stops that need to be distributed among 15 drivers; no stress, leave it to Upper to come up with the best possible route planning using all the drivers with the least amount spent.

Reports & analytics

With reports, you receive insight into your delivery operations with the details of deliveries, support of internal reports, and proof of delivery.

Here at Upper, we take pride in assisting you and your business so you can yield better profits and grow exponentially. Try the 7-day free trial and witness the potential of the Upper Route Planner.

Final Thoughts

Business seasonality can be a boon to your business. Put in your best effort, plan, and get the best results. Many entrepreneurs study periodic fluctuations to make accurate, relative comparisons to understand and implement seasonal adjustments.

Make sure you can allocate your resources and invest your energy in the tools which will make the difference. 

Upper Route Planner is one of the advanced tools that will help your delivery business be more efficient and timely. It also helps you to utilize your resources to the fullest

Access the 7-day free trial to experience the software.