The timing of IPL coincides with the peak summer sale season for various consumer products. Ice cream is one of them. Many brands are spending heavily, and understandably so. NIC Ice Creams(Mumbai Indians), Havmor(Gujarat Titans), Hangyo(Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Arun Ice Creme(Sunrisers Hyderabad) to name a few.
The early onset of monsoon in 2025 has triggered a weather-induced seasonal demand shift, disrupting typical sales cycles across both summer-centric and monsoon-dependent industries. Summer-centric industries like ice cream, beverages, electronic goods like fans, AC, inverters, consumer products like sunscreen, colling powders etc. will loose out 15 days of peak sales. While monsoon dependent industries like rain gears, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers etc. have their demand uptick 15 days early.
This “Weather-Induced Seasonal Demand Shift” is not limited to the primary industry set alone; i.e. ice cream only. It impacts the whole value chain of ice cream production. It impacts Raw Material suppliers like dairy products, flavoring and colorants, fruits and nuts, sugar and chemicals, Packing Material suppliers like plastic, paper cup and cones, laminated wrappers, shipper boxes etc. Cold Chain Logistic Partners like refrigerated trucks, cold storage facility etc., QC Labs like chemical testing labs etc. and many other ancillary suppliers like cleaning agent, consumables etc. Same is the case for beverage value chain and electronic goods value chain and consumer products value chain.
On the other side, imagine an umbrella manufacturing company which is yet to finalize its deal for additional space allocation at modern trade channel like DMart. With early rains, consumers are going to Dmart expecting a stall of umbrellas, while it is heaving with summer centric products. This mis-aligned stock positioning is going to create a long term impact. It could mean wastages for summer centric products and missed sales for monsoon based industries. If the primary monsoon based product company misses out on sales, all the related companies in the value chain are going to feel the pinch. In case of umbrellas it could be fabric suppliers, metal and plastic components, Packing materials, branding materials etc.
Seasonality is just a 45 min conversation in Supply chain management classes with one or two graphs on Minitab or excel. When you actually see its impact on ground zero, you tip your hat to the companies who are into extreme seasonality zone like Ice-cremes, umbrellas, ACs etc.