As the end of summer approaches, many businesses, especially those in seasonal industries like tourism, face a significant reduction in revenue due to a decrease in footfall and consumer demand. To maintain profitability during quieter months, businesses must review their outgoings and consider which ones can be reduced or eliminated in order to stay afloat until the festive season begins.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the most common overheads businesses typically look to streamline over autumn.
Staff and Overtime
Companies typically start scaling back on temporary employees and seasonal staff as summer comes to an end to account for the drop in customer demand. Similarly, overtime allowances are often limited and part-time arrangements are made to match reduced activity levels, easing payroll pressures. Seasonal employees are usually then brought back at the end of autumn, in time for the Christmas rush.
Work Spaces
Many businesses with a physical workspace opt to downsize, sublet, or even close their offices altogether during autumn. Remote and hybrid working opportunities are also common, as they allow companies to continue providing a service without the need to fork out on costly workspaces.
Travel and Corporate Events
Businesses can easily cut costs by limiting business travel and events for clients, instead opting for virtual meetings. In doing this, brands can maintain healthy relationships with their clients and save money on travel expenses.
Advertising
Consistent marketing is one of the key elements of long-term growth. However, significant spending during slower periods can result in low returns. Many businesses choose to pause or scale back expensive ad campaigns and switch to more cost-effective marketing channels such as social media and email marketing, allowing them to gain visibility without the hefty price tag.
Software and Subscriptions
Unused subscriptions can pile up easily. Autumn provides an opportunity to audit these services and decide whether these tools are being used enough to justify their expense. Reducing unnecessary subscriptions can make a notable difference to monthly expenditure.
Businesses Must Adjust to Slower Trading Periods
In order to remain competitive and profitable, businesses must adapt to changes in demand over the autumn months. Businesses can take advantage of tools such as mobile payroll solutions, which make it easy to manage staffing costs and make adjustments where necessary. Employees can work from home to lower in-office expenses and move meetings online to reduce travel and event costs. And subscriptions and advertising spend can be scaled back to make up for the decrease in demand.
When businesses take a proactive approach to identifying unnecessary costs, they can survive slower months and be ready to ramp up operations once demand returns.
