What are some reasons a company might have peak sales during the winter months?

Question

I am doing a project for school and I need to come up with reasons a company would have peak sales during the winter. I am drawing a blank. All I could come up with is because of the holidays. Anyone have any others?

I just need to list 2-3 reasons any company, not a specific one, could have peak sales. Reasons I listed for the summer months are tourism, weddings and the preferred weather in the certain areas. Now I just need a few examples for the winter.

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO READ ANYMORE???? I ALREADY THOUGHT OF BECAUSE OF THE HOLIDAYS. I NEED A A COUPLE MORE IDEAS TO ADD TO IT.

Answer 1

You nailed the primary reason of the holidays (Christmas/ Hanukkah), but this is not only because it is the gift giving season.

Also:
1) Kids are out of school
2) Kids getting more new school clothes/uniforms because they outgrew them since August
3) People buying new coats/gloves/winter gear/rain gear, etc
4) Many parents/families take vacation and traveling to visit families (more airline and car/hotel rentals)
5) More free time to shop
6) Gets dark earlier (less time to be outside)
7) Cold/rainy weather - want to be inside
8) Entertaining more (more food, drinks, decorations bought)
9) End of year sales draw shoppers
10) New Year's resolution (buy gym equipment or get gym membership)
11) Making final tax deductible purchases (for tax year)
12) Businesses spending final end-of-year budget

Answer 2

Being that I work directly with the sale industry Here is my opinion. if i may.

With my business, Direct Sales, People are less likely to want to travel out due to weather. Some are looking for gifts for the holidays, and others are just looking for that something special that they can share with their friends. In my business, i see a spike in sales in fall and holiday time frames due to the fact of the gift giving, but i have polled my customer base and asked them what their reasoning is for waiting until the latter of the year and the biggest response that i recieved was socializing. People like to socialize at home. Entertaining is a big thing these days, and the products that i sell are a great way of doing so with style and grace. Not only are people looking for the social calls, they are getting bored with their interior designs. People tend to look at them so long that they want a change. Which is were my business comes into their picture. Another reason is that the children are back in school and are doing fundraisers. People love to support a good cause, and what better than the childrens groups that are around. Again to summarize, Weather, Holidays, Social gatherings, fundraising, and change of scenery in the home.

These are all in addition to the homes that get a huge refund in January and February from the IRS. That is another spike in the winter months that no one has mentioned yet (or that i have noticed.) People may wait to spend that refund with you. That is also about the time that i run my HUGE marketing campaigns and specials. Try to attract the people in for our new catalogs and to get them to spend $$$ with me.
In short the reasons are truly endless of why sales spike in winter months but holidays and weather are by far the BIG reasons.

Hope this helped ya out some.
Good luck on the assignment.

Answer 3

You're on the right track while thinking about weather's impact. It's tremendous! Naturally, you as a merchant will sell more clothing in the winter - folks need heavier clothes, more of them, and winter outerwear in particular is much more vulnerable to the ravages of the weather - so it needs to be replaced more often.
People eat differently in winter. They tend to take in more calories, in part to help keep them warm and safe whilst out of doors, but also, as you noted, due to the holiday traditions of eating (yes, and overeating) hearty around Christmas.
And then there's the necessity to keep our homes warm. We'll use more energy in the form of natural gas, coal, heating oil, wood and electricity - and pay higher prices when it has to be delivered through the miserable winter weather. Transportation via all means - air, rail, highway - is more difficult and therefore more expensive in winter. And don't forget the fact that folks like UPS and the post office see peak demands for their delivery services around Christmas.
And then there's the fact that people, especially schoolchildren, get sick and have to visit the doctor more often in the winter, with concurrent expenses for medicines and necessary therapies.

So you see - many industries see peak sales in winter for a variety of reasons. I'm sure you'll hear more valid reasons from other answers to your thoughtful question. Good luck with your project!

Answer 4

Many companies have annual budgets that follow the calendar year. They need to spend the remainder of their budget before year end, so they will often go on a "spending spree" at the end of the year. (Assume that a division has a budget of $1 million, and they go the whole year holding on to their budget just in case something happens and they need to buy a new machine or something. The end of the year comes, and they have $400,000 left - they will buy something that they want, that will improve productivity for example, but that they don't "NEED".

Other biggest reason really is the holidays. Just like the summer is big for education institutions - summer break is when they do their remodeling, buy new equipment, books, etc.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Dear Manda:
Never use all CAPITAL letters to address people. That, girlfriend, is the equivalent to screaming and shouting and I know people who do not react all to friendly to that:). That said, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Here you go:

People running ski resorts, businesses which cater to wintersports, snow removing businesses (hard to peak during summer, would be my guess), Santa Claus Impersonator, tree sellers, trimmings, heck, probably hospitals due to people prone to accidents on the ice.

Hope that helped some:)
Pemma

Answer 6

Perhaps they sell winter related items. Also, the company might be a sky resort or some other winter related sporting location. By contrast, it might be located in a place where people go to escape winter, such as Florida or the Caribbean.

Answer 7

maybe their business is geared towards winter month activities

eg- someplace that sells heaters
- ski resorts or snow board places
carpet cleaners- getting work done in the winter due to holidays

- jewelry stores - holidays and valentines day
- Wilson's leather, sale of coats and gloves

Answer 8

Holidays, seasons

consumer goods - Xmas season drives sales up in Nov-Dec, clothing has different seasons - certain types of clothing - boots and fur coats in winter, swim suits in spring, etc

Answer 9

Holidays, Clear out items to make room for more inventory, low, low sales for the quarter, promotion for a certain prodcut.

Answer 10

my sister works at a natural gas supply company, and her husband at a propane company. They both do REALLY well in cold weather. My dad drives a tow truck and wet, icy roads have often provided our holiday fare!