I thought I saw Christmas lights up outside someone’s house the other night but as I got closer I realised they were Halloween lights. Phew - but I thought it won’t be long before someone takes the honour of being the first in the area to have their festive lights up.
People complain all the time about Christmas songs in supermarkets and Christmas lines in the aisles but I think secretly that actually others like it.
I spoke recently to one of those companies that provides music to shopping malls and supermarkets and their advice was ‘sound’, pardon the pun. They said to not rush into playing nothing but Christmas songs but mix them in with others so as not to drive the poor staff mad!
Traditionally, once Halloween is over, shops start displaying their Christmas lines. I think this is a good idea but that products should be introduced gradually to build excitement.
Obviously people need their Advent calendars by December 1 so it is vital, if you stock them, to put them out very soon. Competition in this category has gone crazy over the past few years with beauty calendars featuring hundreds-of-pounds worth of goods. For example, Dior has one this year that costs £470. Then there are ones containing rare whiskies and even cheese. However, most people (kids and adults) are happy with one containing chocolate. Mondelez has a new one that’s actually made of chocolate. Its Cadbury Dairy Milk Advent Bar is made of 25 individual chunks of chocolate and consumers are being urged to take the ‘One Chunk a Day Challenge’.
Mondelez recommends that you have those self-eat treats out by now too, such as its Cadbury Puds or Mars’ Maltesers Reindeers. And with many of you unaffected by the HFSS regs, you’ll still be able to put these right where most of your shoppers can see them.
Come the end of the month or early December it would be good to have your Christmas sharing and gift items on display. VoucherCodes Shopping for Christmas report has found that spending on alcohol and confectionery gifts is expected to rise by 6% this year because they are affordable presents when compared to clothing or perfume. So, my advice would be to make an eye-catching display of them.
With many products in much smaller outers/cases the risk of stocking Christmas lines is greatly reduced. Yes, most people will buy theirs from the supermarkets or discounters but some people will not have the time or inclination to visit these busy outlets and queue up. They will prefer to grab what they can when they can – so you need to do all you can to make sure that’s in your forecourt store.
No comments yet