Inspired by the example of
First, we have our average monthly sales, over the past 5 years. We see this general shape to our sales year to year, regardless of total income.
A spike in sales in March (due to the yearly “March 4th for GMs Day” sale) followed by a slow decline which reaches a low point in September (post GenCon, the gamers have spent their money) followed by a skyrocket in sales for the holidays. (Note that November is often higher than December, because we usually run a sale marking Adamant’s anniversary, which we coincide with the Black Friday post-Thanksgiving weekend event.)
This year, however, was a rollercoaster.
The same basic trend, but extremely exaggerated. The March 4th sale was massive this year — the passing of Gary Gygax occurred at the start of it, which seemed to spark gamers into a mood to dive strongly into their hobby. The November sale was Adamant’s 5th birthday, and we ran a dollar sale on our entire product line — which resulted in a month nearly as big as March. However, December was a sharp drop over usual trends (something reported across the economy, as Christmas sales were slower than usual).
Without the dollar figures (and no, I’m not sharing those…), you can’t see it — but the drop from August through October this year was worse than in previous years — September and October ending up nearly 40% off from the previous year. The sale in November saved our year — but drop in December has me wondering whether we’re trending up or down.
So there you have it. I’m opening the virtual floor to questions, so if you have any — fire away.