Early festive shopping trend as customers spread the financial load
Christmas tingles have started as greeting card and gift retailers find shopping early for the festive season is the trend, with people looking to spread the load.
From indies to the larger retailers, the hunch of putting stock out early is paying off – “We launched Christmas online on 1 October, as it’s payday for many people, and it was very well received with a flurry of early orders,” confirmed Jo Barber, owner of No14 Ampthill, which she described as a “winter wonderland”.
“We began drip feeding Christmas into the shop at the start of October, mainly cards and Christmas fragrance products, together with warm knits, then worked all day and into the early hours to get the rest of Christmas out to coincide with half term,” Jo added.
And at Hugs & Kisses in Tettenhall, owner Caroline Ranwell also put Christmas on display in October, “they’re already starting to sell, particularly our Crumble & Core earring cards and our Christmas Jellycat soft toys and matching books”.
In Market Harborough, customers were looking for festive buys way back in August so In Heaven At Home’s Anne Barber said: “We discreetly launched our Christmas department in September in a small way for those customers who were asking for it and have been adding newness each week ever since.”
The wooden decorations from publisher Lottie Murphy are doing very well already, and Anne commented: “We’re optimistic about Christmas and believe that it will be a wonderful mix of some customers planning and shopping early, and some leaving it until the last minute, and both will be absolutely fine.”
PG Buzz has also been talking to other retailers up and down the country to find out their hunches and approach for this festive season. Here Waterstones’ Hazel Walker, Postmark’s Mark Janson-Smith, and Michael Apter, from Paper Tiger, give their views…
Hazel Walker, senior buyer at Waterstones, Foyles and Blackwells
Your hunch: “Our Christmas trade has started well. We put our Christmas selection out on display slightly earlier than usual, right across our store estate to give it a stronger presence on the High Street and, if the first few weeks is anything to go by, it’s boding well.
“I’m hopeful that, with no re-run of postal strikes and the continued great work the GCA is doing to promote the early sending of Christmas cards with the general public in the media, we’re on for an upturn in Christmas card sending.”
Your approach: “We feel we have a strong selection this year and. having made our own-brand roll-wrap plastic-free, we feel that will go down well with our customers too.”
Mark Janson-Smith, managing director of Postmark, 15 stores in London, Birmingham and Glasgow
Your hunch: “I have all my fingers and toes crossed for a good Christmas – it should be a better one than last year for the trade as a whole.
“Having tripled the number of our stores since last Christmas, this year we’re in for a busy ride, but I will try my best to remain confident, amid the logistical challenges of stock replenishment!”
Your approach: “We decided to put everything out on display by the end of October and from then can only hope that sales will fly. Anyone predicting how high they will fly is a wiser person than I will ever be!”
Michael Apter, managing director of Paper Tiger, three shops in Edinburgh
Your hunch: “We’re planning for success. We have a new shop and new customers in Morningside, and Edinburgh seems to be busy generally. We might see some additional trade due to the absence of Paperchase in the city centre.
“Sales of single cards have been growing over recent years. The blurred definitions, descriptions and packaging of packs/boxes/wallets makes like-for-like comparisons difficult. When is a box not a box, and so on? We’re expecting like-for-like sales to grow back a bit from last year, and our range reflects a wide cross section of styles”.
Your approach: “We are supporting the GCA #Cardmitment campaign this season. I love the messaging and the graphics that Sarah Jackson of Stormy Knight has produced for this.”
