What to Do When Nobody's Shopping for Your Product

Nobody wakes up wanting to buy your product.

They wake up with a problem. Something happening in their life that creates a need.

Your product is just one way to solve it.

The brands that struggle with this are the ones who think demand starts with them. They push their product. They talk about features. They wait for people to search for what they sell.

And then they wonder why it's slow.

People aren't shopping for your product. They're shopping for a solution to something happening in their life right now.

Your job is to figure out what that something is.

I worked with a brand that sold personalized gifts. For a long time, they marketed the product. Custom. High quality. Great reviews. All the standard stuff.

It worked during the holidays. Valentine's Day. Mother's Day. Christmas.

But outside those windows? Dead.

They assumed it was just the nature of the business. Gifts are seasonal. People buy when the calendar tells them to.

That's what they thought.

But when we looked at who was actually buying during the slow months, we found something.

Parents buying for their kids heading off to college.

These people weren't shopping for a "personalized gift." They were shopping for a way to stay connected to their kid who was about to leave home.

The product was the same. The moment was completely different.

Once we understood that, everything changed. We didn't change the product. We changed the message.

We spoke to the moment. The kid leaving. The empty room. The parent wanting to give them something meaningful before they go.

When sales slow down, most brands do one of two things.

One: They push harder. More ads. More discounts. More volume.

Two: They pull back. Wait it out. Call it seasonal. Accept it.

Both are wrong.

The right move is to ask a different question.

Not "how do we get people to buy our product?"

But "what moments are happening right now that our product could solve?"

Your product doesn't change. But the reasons people buy it do.

A personalized gift in December is a Christmas present.

A personalized gift in August is a parent holding onto their kid before they leave for college.

Same product. Different moment. Different customer. Different message.

The demand is there. It just doesn't look like you expect it to.

People are always shopping for something. Your job is to find those moments and show up with a message that fits.