Seasonal factors and marketing mix: Literature survey and proposed guidelines

Global business requires adapting to local market specificities, including weather conditions. Weather conditions influence sales of weather-sensitive products and therefore are of interest to business managers. But managers lack a reflective framework for strategic thinking to adapt their marketing mix when the temperature changes. Based on a literature survey illustrated by way of examples of several industries, this article provides such a framework informing business practices to what extent the marketing mix can be adapted to weather conditions. First, we review how seasonal factors interfere with sales by considering consumer behavior and market specificities. Second, we present several approaches to consider marketing-mix levers, such as price and advertising, in response to variations of weather conditions. We find that thorough understanding of market specificities and consumption drivers help to determine the incidence of weather conditions on sales. Following a temperature rise, marketing-mix adaptations consist of arbitration among different practices.