The Notorious Summer Sales Slump 

How to benefit from the slow summer retail months 

     Summer is finally here, the weather is beautiful and everyone is ready to enjoy the beach, pool and well-deserved vacations. This all sounds perfect, but what about your sales? If everyone is out and about enjoying the summer sun, that means less people are online shopping. The summer months are notorious for drops within the resale market.  Did you notice a sudden drop in traffic, offers and sales on Poshmark? don’t throw in the towel yet! Here are some ways to benefit from the slower summer months. 

Organize 

   Organizing inventory is my least favorite thing about reselling. There is not 1 thing about organizing I enjoy, not going to lie about that, but of course it has to be done. I find organizing in the summer to be the most beneficial time of the year to do so. When I organize I put my items into categories, and sizes. Let’s say I have a red Valentino dress listed for sale, that dress would be hanging up in my dress section in size order. I use portable closets to hang up and keep my folded items in.  I used to use bins but, every time I needed to get an item which would be every other day, I found myself rummaging through the rest of the items and it just looked sloppy. 

    The fashion world moves super-fast, so should you if you want to stay ahead of the game. Most of us are working on our tans and summer fun however, fall and winter fashions are already being previewed within the fashion industry. Don’t wait till the leaves start to change pretty colors to look for fall and winter fashion trends. Do your research now and start to look for affordable sourcing options for the upcoming season. 

Go Thrifting 

Summer thrifting is the best! So many people are out of town, on vacation, traveling etc… Thrift stores are empty, and I speak from experience. Every weekend I go thrifting at the Goodwill outlet and every weekend (during the summer) I find that I have the store almost to myself. I have free range of every rack, bin and cart. There are no nosey shoppers looking at what I am looking at, no competition and no lines. I find the best items in the summer months, which I load up on.  People love cleaning their closets out during the spring and summer, and lots of those items end up and thrift shops. I can’t express my excitement enough; summer thrifting is a MUST! 

Garage Sales 

Tis the season for garage sales and lemonade stands, yaye! No, I’m not telling you to go make a lemonade stand but…if you really want to, I won’t stop you. There is no need to explain how popular garage sales are during the summer, I’m sure you see plenty of those. Garage sale hopping is a thing, or at least for me it is. I round up all of the local garage sales in my area for the day, and I check them all out. You can find everything and anything at a garage sale. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. When people get don’t use things, they lose value to the person, so they are willing to just sell it for whatever. I have scored some seriously fancy items lately from garage sales. I purchased an authentic Dooney and Bourke tote for $3! Of course, before you purchase designer items, take the time to try to authenticate it as much as you can, and never list garage sale or thrifted items for sale unless you can 100% authenticate it. I find my sources on my local Facebook community groups and boards as well as Facebook market place. All you have to do is post “Who is having a garage sale?” You’d be surprised how many people respond. I’ve done this while on a getaway in Boston and it worked as well.  You can also use websites like “Garagesaletracker.com” or “yardsalesearch.com“ 

Take Time Off 

It’s summer, enjoy it! If reorganizing, taking new photos or garage sale/ thrifting is not your ideal summer goals, take a break. Summer always seems to pass so fast, take time to enjoy the little things. You are not a machine, sales drop and that’s normal, it happens to every business no matter how big or small. Take some time to reflect on the success you have created and how you can improve and grow. The internet is not going anywhere, you can login whenever you want. Summer only lasts for so long, enjoy it!