The figures and scenarios in this article are illustrative: adapt them to your margins and your own data. They are not EasyFid customer results. See how to measure your results.
July, August: terraces fill up — often a few miles away from you, on the coast or in the mountains. Meanwhile, your downtown shop runs at half speed. Customers on vacation, neighborhoods emptied of their regulars, a buying rhythm that changes completely: the summer slow season is a concrete reality for a large share of local businesses, bakeries, hair salons, restaurants, and spas among the first affected.
The good news is that this quiet period isn't something you have to just endure. It can become a strategic moment: stay in touch with the customers who remain, re-engage the ones who'll be back in September, and reach the fall with a more engaged loyal base than you had before summer. That's exactly what a well-used digital loyalty program is for.
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Why summer slows things down
Several things pile up at once in July-August. Part of your local customer base goes on vacation, sometimes for several weeks in a row. Buying habits change: fewer regular visits, more last-minute purchases. And some businesses, especially in dense urban areas, see foot traffic drop sharply when offices and schools slow down.
The result: a shop owner who does nothing during summer loses twice. They lose the immediate revenue, which is hard to avoid. But more importantly, they risk losing the connection with customers who, after six to eight weeks with no contact, don't spontaneously come back in September — they've had time to try somewhere else or change their habits.
Staying in touch instead of cutting contact
The good news is that loyalty doesn't require constant physical presence. A digital loyalty card, unlike a paper card sitting in a drawer all summer, stays active in the customer's pocket: it keeps showing their points balance, and it keeps working for you even when they don't stop by the shop.
That's the difference between a shop that symbolically "closes the curtain" for two months and one that stays present in the customer's mind, even from a distance. A card update at the right moment — showing points nearly enough for a reward, for instance — is often enough to bring a customer back before they even leave on vacation, or right when they return.
Practical tip: rather than absorbing the drop in traffic, get ahead of it. Two weeks before the big summer departures, look at your customer list in the app for customers close to a reward and make a point of mentioning it to them in person, or crediting a small bonus at checkout: "Just two more purchases before your reward — don't leave without it!" That's often the nudge that turns a hesitant customer into one last visit before summer.
Loyalty mechanics suited to the slow season
Not every reward works equally well in summer. Some mechanics are particularly effective at offsetting the natural drop in traffic:
- Double points for a limited time: a "double points" week during the slow season encourages the customers still around to concentrate their purchases with you rather than wait.
- A welcome-back gesture: when you notice, from your customer list in the app, a regular who hasn't earned points in three or four weeks, greet them personally on their return from vacation with a small, targeted gesture.
- A "summer special" goal: a points tier reachable quickly (for example, in 3 purchases instead of 8) to create a small, fast win and keep engagement during a period when visits are rarer.
- A seasonal or anniversary offer: use the summer lull to highlight a themed offer (seasonal products, a lighter service) that gives people a reason to come back even during slow activity.
The idea isn't to multiply loss-making promotions, but to adjust the pace of your outreach to a customer base that's rarer but still reachable. These mechanics apply just as well to a neighborhood bakery as to a hair salon or a restaurant: only the pace of rewards changes depending on your business.
The Wallet: an asset even when the shop is closed
This is where the loyalty card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet really earns its keep in summer. The points balance updates live in the customer's wallet, with no app to open: at every visit, the number of points shown on the card changes immediately, ready the next time the customer opens their Wallet. No password to remember, no app to redownload after weeks of inactivity — the card is always there, ready to use, exactly like a boarding pass.
In practice, EasyFid is available on both iOS and Android today, and the Wallet experience works the same way on both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, with no app to install on the customer's side: adding the card only takes a tap once the shop owner has created it.
Using summer to prepare a strong fall
The slow season is also a chance to prepare the ground rather than just get through it. With your customer list in the EasyFid app, you can spot, during summer, the customers whose visits are slowing down, the ones close to a reward, and the ones who haven't shown up in several weeks. That level of detail, impossible with a hand-stamped paper card, lets you prepare targeted moves for early September instead of starting from scratch.
A good practice is to plan a start-of-fall welcome-back moment: customers back from vacation are settling into new routines, and a well-timed reminder — a word at checkout, a sign, or a message through your own tool for customers who opted in — often makes the difference between a customer who returns to you and one who's picked up a new habit elsewhere over the summer. To build this kind of strategy across the whole year, our complete guide to merchant loyalty programs details which mechanics to activate by season.
Finally, keep in mind that staying active with loyalty, even in the slow season, remains a modest investment: EasyFid plans start at €9.99/month for a shop with up to 500 customers, which is easily offset by the value of a single loyal customer won back thanks to well-timed attention during the summer.
Don't let summer erase your customer loyalty
Stay connected to your customers through the slow season and prepare a strong start to fall.
App Store → Google Play →Frequently asked questions about summer loyalty
Why does traffic drop so much in summer for a small shop?
Vacation departures, slower activity in residential or office areas, and shifting buying habits all pile up in July-August. It's a structural dip for many local shops, not a sign of permanently lost customers if it's managed well.
Should loyalty efforts stop during the vacation period?
No, it's better to adjust the pace than to stop entirely. A well-timed gesture before a customer leaves on vacation, or right when they return in September, keeps the connection alive without over-soliciting customers who have less availability.
Does the digital loyalty card stay active even if the customer doesn't come in for several weeks?
Yes. Once added to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, the card stays on the customer's phone indefinitely, with its points balance always visible, even after a long absence.
How do I know which customers to re-engage before fall?
The EasyFid app lets you spot customers whose visit frequency is slowing down or who are close to a reward, so you can target your outreach instead of treating your whole customer base the same way.
Does digital loyalty work for every type of business in summer?
Yes, the mechanics adapt to each sector: a bakery, a restaurant, a hair salon, or a spa don't have the same visit rhythm, but all of them can adjust their rewards and outreach to get through the slow season without losing the connection with customers.