Many small businesses experience a boost in business during the holiday season. Restaurants do very well during the holidays, almost as good as February when they get a boost in traffic for Valentine’s Day. December is actually the best day of the month for Grocery stores too.
Looking a little deeper, I noticed a few surprises—including these businesses that do well during the holidays that I wasn’t expecting:
Electrical Contractors
October and December are the busiest two months of the year for these businesses. October makes sense because a lot of homeowners have their heating and air-conditioning checked to get ready for the winter months ahead, but the jump in December surprised me.
Electricians have figured out a great way to move indoors—offer special deals on new furnace and air conditioner installation during the months of November and December.
Dentists
Most insurance company deductibles expire at the end of the calendar year, the same is true for employee flexible spending accounts. If people have money in a flex spending account or they’ve met their insurance deductible for the year, doesn’t a quick visit to the dentist make a lot of sense?
Salons and Barbershops
December is by far the busiest month for salons and barbershops. It might be college kids who want to look good for mom and dad or people wanting to look their best for all the holiday parties, but December is a great time to be a barber or stylist.
Home Healthcare
April is the busiest month for home health care, but there’s also a big bump in December. This was a surprise to me, so I asked a couple of friends who work in healthcare if they could give me any insight and they shared a couple of compelling reasons home healthcare could see a boost. Many times it’s the holiday season when children spend a lot of time with elderly family members and their healthcare needs become more obvious. It’s also a time of year when healthcare deductibles have been met and it makes economic sense to start having home healthcare for people who may have been putting it off.
There are probably other surprises out there too. Does your business experience a boost during the holiday season? What do you think causes it? Do you have any advice that might help other businesses take advantage of the same circumstances?