Are your sales down due to the hurricanes?

by momo3
14 replies
Hello
I have a site that has been going for years.
In the summers its usually slower, but august was rather huge.

But recently my sales have been quite low

I was just curious if anyone else is experiencing low sales recently?

I am guessing its because of the hurricanes.
#due #hurricanes #sales
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    What are you selling that would be affected by a hurricane?

    While there are many people affected (Estimates are 450,000 will ask FEMA for help) That is less than .2% of the USA population.

    Maybe everyone is spending their discretionary income on relief efforts?

    Brent
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    • Profile picture of the author momo3
      WEll
      A huge state for any online transactions is Texas. And a huge city there is Houston. I thought maybe it was affecting things. Things are not too bad but maybe down 15%
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      • Profile picture of the author McColmer
        Wouldn't be surprised since your area of target was affected. See if everything goes back to normal in a few months.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    I thought maybe it was affecting things.
    It probably is. I would guess what I said above, a lot of people are donating right now, instead of buying.

    It would be interesting to know for sure but I don't know how you would test that unless it happens again. That's not a test anyone wants to take.

    Brent
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    • Profile picture of the author celente
      Originally Posted by Brent Stangel View Post

      It probably is. I would guess what I said above, a lot of people are donating right now, instead of buying.

      It would be interesting to know for sure but I don't know how you would test that unless it happens again. That's not a test anyone wants to take.

      Brent
      but this would not affect sales, and people buying moods.

      The hurricane was not a GLOBAL event, it affects small pockets of coastal america.

      Peope do not change their buying mood from BUYING to DONATING, that is not what I have seen in my experience. IF someone wants to buy, they buy, simple as that.

      For your own point my sales went up DURING the days of the hurricane and flooding. I think people worked on their business less, so if that is teh case hurricane or not, if you work less on your marketnig, sales are likely to go down.
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  • Profile picture of the author zomgmike
    I haven't felt anything from the hurricane but I see a lot of ebb and flow with exchange rates (my customers are all over the world.)
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    It is unlikely that the hurricanes in Texas and Florida have had a dramatic affect on sales. Although those are both usually the top 3 states for sales, the entire states were not affected in a major way.

    Different websites have different buying patterns but many see a drop in September because school starts again. Some think that September slowdowns are because more money is being spent on school supplies and clothing. October frequently has a similar slowdown due to a large portion of discretionary spending going toward Halloween items.

    On the bright side, Christmas is not that far away and sales begin to pick up dramatically for many sites toward the end of November. This is the time of year to work on the SEO and backlink projects that you have been putting off because you were too busy.
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  • Profile picture of the author dsimms
    I would say for sure, this will affect sales somewhere. If you think about it, the lives of people in these areas have been turned up side down, and most of them did not have flood insurance to cover their losses. I would bet big online retailers will take a loss such as walmart.com. If I had just lost everything, then why would I be ordering from walmart right now....

    are you analyzing your data?
    Is most of your traffic coming from these areas?
    If not, then maybe it is related to going back to school....

    Sept, parents got school stuff on their mind....
    Oct, keyword searches start to go up...
    Nov, searches go up even more...
    Dec, searches spike.
    Jan, searches plumet
    Feb, searches return to normal, as people recover from xmas.

    I am sure there are sites that make alot of money around xmas...
    but after xmas, it is like a ghost town, then takes some time for
    sales to level out, and return back to normal as it was before.....
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Texas and Florida are just 2 states. What about the other 48 states? What about the other countries in the world? If you want to get more sales rapidly, continue to build up your email list day after day - making sure to invest more money percentage wise whenever you see a monthly spike in income.
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    • Profile picture of the author celente
      Originally Posted by Randall Magwood View Post

      Texas and Florida are just 2 states. What about the other 48 states? What about the other countries in the world? If you want to get more sales rapidly, continue to build up your email list day after day - making sure to invest more money percentage wise whenever you see a monthly spike in income.
      exactly, there is always traffic online, the major traffic from all my sites does not come from these two states.

      Infact if you are doing your job, each month sales and profits should go up, not DOWN....and this is a fact, as a true business owner.
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    There is alot of mis informaiton here.

    The hurricane did not affect the world, just some states of the US, for a week or so.

    I have increased sales as advertising costs went down a bit, and sales went up. So your sales cannot go down due to hurricanes, do not play that game and blame the weather.

    :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Goldie
      Originally Posted by celente View Post

      There is alot of mis informaiton here.

      The hurricane did not affect the world, just some states of the US, for a week or so.

      I have increased sales as advertising costs went down a bit, and sales went up. So your sales cannot go down due to hurricanes, do not play that game and blame the weather.

      :-)
      Sorry, that isn't correct it really depends on the market.

      I would guess travel markets, for instance, have been hit. A lot people outside the US will be having second thoughts about future travel to florida, cuba etc during hurricane season.

      I have a number of travel guides for the direct area the hurricane hit and sales are down around 70% so you are wrong to have such a sweeping statement.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rajeev Gaur
    Hi there,

    Whats the nature of your business that you are doing?
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  • Profile picture of the author Rose Anderson
    Where do your sales come from? If two of your big markets are Florida and Texas then, yes.
    I live in a coastal town in north Florida and our tourist trade has taken a huge dive. It's like a ghost town around here. A ghost town with lots of tree limbs in the road.

    Though, I can't imagine an online business that sells mainly to those two states. That would be extremely odd.

    Rose
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