How Shall We Exit Summer?

Looking at the summer forecast (and beyond)

Written by Brook Schaaf

Here in the United States, summer unofficially started this past Monday on our Memorial Day holiday, when we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. The astronomical start is a few weeks away, on June 21, and it will last until the astronomical end on September 23, with the early ending on Labor Day, the first Monday in September.

While the internet operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it seems fair to perceive that things slow down in the business world through the summer, events (like those held by Everflow, impact.com, Awin/ShareASale, Martech Record, and Affiliate Summit East) notwithstanding.

Taking some time to relax and recharge is beneficial, but we should make sure we’re especially well prepared for the fall and Q4 this year for two reasons: First, e-commerce growth rates have declined to single digits since their last fantastic COVID boost. According to eMarketer, growth is projected to remain below 10% through 2026, starting with 8.9% for this year. That might not sound so bad, except that it’s not much ahead of inflation, pegged officially at 4.9% for April year over year. Other sources argue that inflation is actually in the double digits, so you might just be treading water.

Second, if we are indeed heading into a period of increased budgetary scrutiny, this should be a chance for affiliate to shine with well-managed campaigns working with coupon, reward, commerce content, and other affiliate types. Here, “shine” means winning money from other budgets, and “well-managed” means putting in the work and allocating the resources, particularly development resources, to allow for more sophisticated tracking.

This relatively quiet period might be a good opportunity to make preparations for subsequent years.

I wish you a happy and productive summer.