For seasonal business, starting off the season strong is the main goal. You only have a few months to collect most of the year’s revenue so every sale counts. The right assortment can play a major factor in success. 

You need to hit that balance of tried-and-true classics along with the latest innovations. 

What are the items that make this list you might ask? We asked our team and gathered the best categories that have shown success for summer businesses.

It’s confirmed – we ALL have the summer travel bug. Online searches for flights between June and August are up 25% according to Expedia with 70% of us saying we want to travel over the next year (Travel Age West).

With ALL this travel, we’re going to need our most important travel companion – travel snacks!

Whether you’re a traveler trying to make your trip memorable or a seasonal business getting ready for the season, here’s the summertime snacks to make this season unforgettable.

Design Easter Baskets That Truly Hop

Spring may not have sprung yet, but retailers are springing into action to market their Easter candy selection. And with good reason – the National Retail Federation reported that 89% of Americans’ planned Easter purchases were candy in 2021 – the highest of all categories. And where is that candy going you might ask? Simple — in Easter baskets. 66% of parents make their kids Easter baskets, with 60% of those parents even sending baskets to their kids who don’t live at home (Insider). In the age of social media, simply throwing things in a basket isn’t going to cut it. Get a jump (or hop) on the competition – educate customers on how to make their Easter basket presentation a slam dunk.

We polled our design egg-sperts for their top tips to take baskets from so-so to egg-ceptional!

• Level up with Different levels – Get their eyes jumping around like peter cotton tail — place items at different

2020 changed a lot of things — including consumers’ perception of private label food products. Once seen as inferior copycats of national brands, private label is now viewed as a gateway to affordable, restaurant-grade foods to enjoy at home. The prospect of private label is even more appealing when home cooking trends continue to soar. Right now private label is experiencing a renaissance, with Nielsen reporting a 16.1% sales increase year-to-date through Aug. 1, 2020 totaling $17.9 billion (Specialty Food Association).

Don’t think this passion for private label is merely a 2020 phenomenon. Even in 2019 market

It’s fall — the temps are dropping, we’re pulling on sweaters and wrapping scarves — bring on the pumpkin! Pumpkin spice continues to reign as the king of fall flavors, spurring large chains like Starbucks™ and Dunkin® to push the release of their coveted pumpkin-flavored beverages back to August — way before the start of fall (which is September 23rd, by the way). Packaged food manufacturers continue to jump on the flavor bandwagon, releasing new special edition fall products every year. The reason for this cult following of fall flavored anything? Scarcity aka Limited Time Offer (LTO) marketing. Scarcity marketing has proven to give sales a boost. Anyone who has ever witnessed a certain large chain store offer “designer” goods in limited quantities can attest to the long lines created during these events.

Scarcity marketing creates the perception that items out for a limited time are more precious and more valuable than an item available all year. Along with building buzz for