Christmas in Jananuary 2021

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Regulars

Features

Leader page

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News

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GCA Update Chief Executive Iain Whylie looks back at A most challenging year for his members

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Have yourself a Smart Christmas Smart Garden Products have extended Their ‘Three Kings’ Christmas range by adding Over 160 new products for 2021

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Step back in Time Publisher Malcolm Naish reviews 1992, 2001, 2011 and 2016

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Our right Royal Christmas Pudding Piers Croke of Gisela Graham traces the history of this centuries-old Christmas delight

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Shop Talk We talk to Andy Parker of Brookfields Garden Centre, near Nottingham

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What a year it has been Chairman John Athwal of Premier Decorations reflects on 2020 and looks To the future

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Turning market changes and challenges Into opportunities Premier Halloween definitely have their Glass half full rather than half empty

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Harrogate Christmas & Gift Show update It’s announced – A May date for the show

Riffelmacher enjoy continued U.K. growth We meet up with the company’s Export Manager John King, celebrating 30 years in the Christmas industry

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It’s all about innovation We interview Noma’s sales and marketing Director Frank Kaminski about their plans For 2021

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Quirky designs at competitive prices Sarah Welsh catches up with Giftware Trading Boss Ben Jeffrey

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Quality, cost and innovaton from FDL This specialist lighting company have some great new product for 2021

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A flair for festive flamboyance Floralsilk have much to offer

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Konstmide take on the copyists in ChinaEnough is enough.

Fed up with Chinese Companies ripping off their designs, legal Action will be taken against offenders

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We have it covered Shatchi have something for everyone in their 2021 ranges

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Let there be light We interview Matt Higginson of Festive Lights

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Eco collection, reed diffusers and candles The latest soaps,reed diffusers and candles From Heyland & Whittle

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Cheeky Red Robin of Christmas 2021 Lesser & Pavey’s artist Jennifer Rose creates Winter Forest and Winter Robin

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Jingles – All the way Jingles now have one of the largest and Most comprehensive Christmas ranges In the business

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Retail Editor Sarah Welsh interviews Frosts Garden Centre Group head buyer Sarah Waters and Senior Buyer Jane Ladd

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Publisher: Malcolm Naish malcolm@lemapublishing.co.uk Features Editor:

Sarah Welsh

Production Director: Paul Naish paul@lemapublishing.co.uk Layout: Rick Vickers rick@lemapublishing.co.uk Circulation: Robert Thomas robert@lemapublishing.co.uk

32nd year of publication Published by: Lema Publishing Ltd 1 Churchgates, The Wilderness, Berkhamsted, Herts.

HP4 2UB Telephone: 01442 289930 Email: info@lemapublishing.co.uk

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www.christmasinjanuary.co.uk

The views of the contributors expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the publisher. Comments, letters and criticism are welcome.

Contents

January 2021

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Leader

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W

elcome to the 32nd year of publication which 12 months ago I had hoped would as usual be previewing the 72nd Harrogate Christmas & Gift show.

This is the first time in 57 years that I am not spending a week in Harrogate in early January. Covid problems have put paid to that. I wonder what exhibitors and visitors will miss by not spending a few days in Harrogate this month? For myself it will be not seeing my friends and colleagues from our stand in the entrance to Hall ‘A’, plus evenings spent at my favourite restaurants that include Brio, The Drum & Monkey, William & Victoria, The Harrogate Brasserie and my final day’s lunch at Betty’s, not forgetting of course John Athwal’s generous pourings of champagne on his stand each evening at the end of the day!

As we go to press the organisers of the Harrogate show have confirmed that the show will take place at the Harrogate Conference Centre from the 9th to the 11th May., that includes the Halls. I believe that whilst some of the larger companies may think this is too late, that there will be many companies who will welcome the opportunity to get their ranges in front of their customers. So roll on vaccinations, let’s get this show on the road!

In putting this issue together I would like to thank my Advertisers for their support. It can be too easy for companies in these challenging times to, like a snail put their heads back into their shell and not publicise their 2021 ranges to customers and potential customers.

I have been impressed with the way that Christmas suppliers have managed to create new ranges by using numerous Zoom calls with suppliers in China to ensure that their customers are able to view new ideas and new products without the normal weeks spent in China putting everything together.

It must have been really difficult for suppliers to organize their 2021 catalogues this year. At least they didn’t have to contend with the date line of early January to ensure the

catalogues were ready for the Harrogate show.

One of the casualties of the Pandemic was Harrogate based Joe Manby, who many will know and have used for many years to construct their stands at the show. After 50 plus years in business, the Directors decided to close down the company. With no exhibitions taking place anywhere in the U.K. business had dried up totally – so unfair as they were always a well run company, having helped me out year after year with my last minute rush to organized my huge 3 metre by 2 metre stand at the entrace to Hall A. Thank you Richard.

As we go to press the organisers of the Harrogate show have confirmed that the show will take place at the Harrogate Conference Centre from the 9th to the 11th May., that includes the Halls We feature the Frosts Garden Centre group, based in Woburn with four garden centres in their group as our lead interview.

They have been really big on Christmas for quite a few years now. My Editor Sarah Welsh spoke to Sarah Walters – Head of buying and Jane Ladd – Senior Buyer. It is interesting to note that Frosts noticed that the value of individual baskets at the till were higher than in previous years, which they put down to the Public perhaps having a little more to spend as they were unable to go away for holidays and that with Covid lockdown, people wanted to have a refresh on colourways to brighten up an ‘At Home’ Christmas. Turn to page 34 for the full story.

Konstsmide are known throughout Europe for their quality lights and lighting products. When I visited U.K. Managing Director Richard Jerrom back in November

he told me that they had declared war on Chinese companies ripping off their designs, that at the same time were being made from inferior materials and therefore selling at much cheaper prices.

As they say in the film industry ‘NO MORE MISTER NICE GUY’.

Quite rightly Richard continues ‘The company place huge investment into creating new and exciting items and it is extremely galling to see some of them so badly copied.” Legal action will be taken where appropriate.

The Frankfurt christmasworld show that normally takes place at the end of January has been put back to an April date and will run alongside their Ambiente show from the 17th to the 20th April.

It is my sincere hope that these shows take place, although it seems that Covid sanctions are going to determine how likely these dates are!

2020 saw many business owners having to face major challenges in order to keep up and running, Staff furloughs, staff working from home, reducing sales and in some cases their own suppliers of many years making big increases in the services they supply.

For Christmas decoration suppliers, all of them had to face swingeing increases in the containers used to bring product from China to the U.K. With many containers withdrawn from service, several told me they were forced to pay up to eight times the normal container cost.

Despite the trials and tribulations it was encouraging to learn that the depressing situation in early March last year, when Christmas companies were receiving plenty of cancellations or ammendments on orders placed at the shows, by the time it got to July, many of those orders had been reinstated with the build up to Christmas far better than they had originally thought.

Finally, if any readers would like to highlight those suppliers who have gone that extra mile to ensure deliveries arrived on time, then please let us know.

christmasinjanuary.co.uk Photo by Candis Hidalgo from Pexels

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NEWS

International Consumer Goods Show – combines Christmasworld, Ambiente and Paperworld trade fairs Harrogate Christmas & Gift moves to early May The last year has without doubt left the majority of us feeling an air of uncertainty regarding our business and social lives alike; and the gift industry has been no exception.

Harrogate Christmas & Gift was fortunate enough to be one of the few UK trade shows able to experience ‘business as usual’ in 2020, celebrating another bumper event in January – just weeks before the news of COVID and subsequent social restrictions hit the national news.

“We are delighted to confirm that we have now secured new dates for the show from Sunday 9th May to Tuesday 11th May 2021 at the Harrogate Convention Centre and will keep everything crossed that the Covid situation is under control and we are able to continue with plans by this time.” See full story on page 31 Visit the website at www.harrogatefair.com for the latest information and updates.

National Tree promotes Joe Puleo to Chairman, hires experienced CEO Don Kelley National Tree Company (“National Tree”) has promoted Joseph A. Puleo to Chairman of the company and appointed Don Kelley as Chief Executive Officer.

Founded by Sal Puleo, Sr. in 1990 and headquartered in Cranford, New Jersey, National Tree Company is a business that has established itself as a major seasonal and holiday décor supplier. The Company offers more than 4,500 SKUs and has strong relationships with many of the most popular online retailers.

“The Puleo family looks forward to the next chapter of growth and partnership with their customers, suppliers and associates,” said Joe Puleo. “We are particularly excited about the partnership with our investor Sun Capital Partners, whose access to world class executive talent helped us recruit Don Kelley as CEO.” The founder’s sons Joe, Sal (Jr) and Rich Puleo remain active members of the executive team.

U.K. distributors are Norfolk Leisure – www.norfolkleisurelifestyle.co.uk

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The Christmasworld, Ambiente and Paperworld trade fairs will be held as a joint event under the name International Consumer Goods Show – Special Edition in Frankfurt am Main from 17th to 20th April 2021 as a one-off. This live event will be supplemented by targeted digital offerings from the Consumer Goods Digital Days.

Smart Garden Products keeps on growing It’s full steam ahead at Smart Garden Products with two new appointments at their head office in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Sulie Turner and Leigh Martin have joined as Marketing Executive and Category Manager respectively.

Sulie Turner joins Smart as Marketing Executive and is responsible for the company’s B2B marketing activity, including catalogues, website and exhibitions.

Prior to joining Smart, Sulie worked for VitrA in the bathroom industry where she was responsible for trade events and all marketing collateral.

Leigh has extensive experience as a Retail Buyer in charge of sourcing and selection for a wide range of products. In her new role as Category Manager, Leigh Martin is responsible for several of the key Smart product groups, including Decor, Faux Décor, Elvedon and Christmas.

Riffelmacher Brand New Warehouse is now open.

Through one of the most turbulent years our industry has known, Riffelmacher still managed to build their new warehouse with another additional four loading bays. The new building also has facilities for freight drivers to relax and even shower before they carry on with their onward journey. With further investment into a state of the art order picking and stock management system Riffelmacher have future proofed their business for the foreseable future and brought more flexibility and space for further growth. Also housed in the new building is our brand new showroom. A wonderful open plan space will bring a whole new buying experience to their visiting customers.

Riffelmacher are Pleased to announce the Appointment of Mr. Frank Pritchard to our sales team.

Frank will be covering North West England and the West Midlands.

Tel: 07875 386005 E: Frankpritchard@btinternet.com Welcome to the team Frank! christmasinjanuary.co.uk

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GCA NEWS

An Unprecedented Year for GCA Members Like many others in retail, garden centres across the UK have faced a very challenging 12 months – but the Christmas trading period offered a welcome lift.

Garden Centre Association Chief Executive, Iain Wylie, takes a look back at a year no one will forget…

Each year in Christmas in January, this article starts by taking a look back at the previous year and the challenges it brought. There’s usually a reference to the weather causing difficulties at some point in our spring season, and this time last year there was also Brexit!

Of course, this time last year, no one could have foreseen the huge challenges that 2020 would bring.

Following the last 12 months, I doubt the weather will seem like an issue or challenge again! Brexit is still there too, but was barely on the radar until recent weeks, as garden centres – along with every business and person in the country – had to deal with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many GCA member garden centres had made the decision to close in the days before the Prime Minister’s announcement of the first national lockdown, on 23 March, forced them to do so. Nobody knew how long the situation would continue but it soon became clear it would be longer than the initial few weeks. The UK horticulture industry faced ruin, despite the support packages announces as ornamental crops had no route to market and faced going to waste.

Forgive me for quoting these lines directly from last year’s article: “…This doesn’t mean that garden centres can be complacent, they must be fit for purpose and an attractive destination for the public and work hard to retain customers. The GCA can help with this through the many benefits it offers its members, not least through the inspection process – every centre is visited by an independent consultant each year to assess standards and highlight best practice. This in turn leads to great

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networking opportunities where members can share ideas and solve problems with like-minded garden centre operators”.

Well in the context of Covid, the industry really couldn’t afford to be complacent. Many centres turned to telephone and online ordering to keep some stock moving. The GCA along with other trade associations, such as the HTA and Garden Industry Manufacturer’s Association (GIMA) joined forces to make sure that the industry was heard by government with one voice. As a consequence, garden centres were amongst the first retailers to be allowed to re-open in May, enabling the supply chain to start moving again and feed the increased appetite for gardening from the public who had turned to their gardens during the lockdown, helping to boost wellbeing and their physical and mental health.

Once the doors were open again, centres had to be fit for purpose and this meant implementing social distancing measures for a Covid-safe environment. They rose to the challenge and proved to be (and continue to be) exemplars with the precautions and measures they took. To assist members with the preparations, the GCA

produced an e-learning module to train staff on the new social distancing requirements before they reopened. The networking and friendships formed through GCA membership proved invaluable as, through group discussions and webinars, for example, the GCA enabled members to keep in touch and share their experiences throughout the year.

One disappointment was that, for the first time in the GCA’s history, we had to cancel our annual inspections. They will return in 2021, all being well. We did however mange to dispatch our inspectors to visit a crosssection of members up and down the country during the summer.

They documented their visits to enable the GCA to produce a video for members, which acts as a reminder of the incredible journey we’ve been on in 2020.

The Christmas trading period brought with it its own concerns and uncertainty. Lockdown restrictions returned, but garden centres, with the exception of those in Wales, were able to remain open. Festive trade initially proved steady, but many were surprised that gardening categories continued to flourish to levels not previously seen in the last quarter. There could now

be as many as 3m new gardeners in the UK, and we hope they continue well into 2021, and beyond.

Christmas stock sold well for GCA members in December, with lighting and trees – both real and artificial – proving to be best sellers.

Looking to this year, we hope for a gradual return to some normality within the sector, but it won’t be a quick or easy ride.

Sadly, we are not holding our usual GCA conference in January, but we’ll be here to support members throughout the year.

We look forward to recommencing our inspections and competitions as well as turning our attention to the key long-term issues we all face such as the environment, without the distractions of fighting a pandemic.

Regardless of the challenges 2021 brings, the greatest benefit of GCA membership will continue to be sharing information and experiences with like-minded individuals and businesses.

For more information, email: info@gca.org.uk or call: 01244 952170. Alternatively, please visit www.gca.org.uk, log on to www.facebook.com/ GardenCentreAssociation or follow the organisation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ GC_Association.

Plant Pioneers The garden centre movement grew from early green-fingered ‘pioneers’ who wanted to make plants available year-round.

Retailers began selling plants in pots – an American retail development that also took root over here – and then the term ‘garden centres’ came into effect in the early 1960s. The Garden Centre Association was established in 1966.

These days the GCA offers a host of benefits to its members – who all adhere to the highest retail and customer service standards and are inspected annually – including e-learning training with a myriad of different topics. christmasinjanuary.co.uk

CHRISTMAS

2021

Scan the QR code & let the magic begin Step into the magical world of NOMA at our Christmas showrooms in Hertfordshire.

NOMA has been shaping the Christmas lighting market for over 80 years, designing elegant and magical lighting concepts that illuminate countless homes and gardens across the UK. Your showroom experience includes a Grillstream BBQ lunch by our dedicated chef on the LeisureGrow estate.

We can also bring the magic to you remotely, with an interactive virtual guided showroom tour.

For Showroom bookings contact your local sales representative or call 01462 744500

NOMA ... THE SPECIALISTS, NOT GENERALISTS SINCE 1939 www.noma.co.uk

Step back in time Malcolm Naish looks back to 1992, 2001, 2011 and 2016

January 1992 ●

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wax lyrical on the success of our first stand-alone ‘Christmas in January’ and note that we sent out over 400 enquiries to our advertisers. Those of you that remember 1991 will recall what a tough year you all had to face. Home buyers were faced with negative equity and perhaps the last thing on their minds would have been buying Seasonal product prior to Christmas 1991.

As I looked forward to 1992 I pointed out that some retailers had left the ordering of Christmas decs. etc., far too late and as December approached were still scrambling to find suppliers with stock to sell.

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We interviewed Irene Leigh who had been buyer of Christmas Decs., at Harrods for 14 years before deciding to strike out on her own..

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Some of our advertisers 29 years ago are still with us including Premier Decorations, Noma, Puleo, Gisela Graham and Morris May/Weiste.

January 2011 ●

I report that the whole month of December 2010 had to put up with severe weather conditions that included a lot of snow, ice and frost that made travelling by the public very dicey. This sadly had an adverse effect on pre-Christmas sales of festive products.

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Having spoken to numerous garden centres, quite a number of them felt that they had escaped relatively lightly, being destination visits. For suppliers the short supply of containers was a constant problem.

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Makro’s Susan Jones retires. Susan was and still is a lovely lady and much missed from the buying scene on her retirement. I enjoy a great Mancunian retirement bash in her honour. I also attend a most prestigious event at London’s Dorchester Hotel where John Athwal is honoured with that year’s ‘Asian of the Year’ award. Cherie Blair does the honours.

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Triflora set up a partnership with Edelman to sell their products in the U.K. It was a short-lived arrangement that saw the two companies part within a relatively short space of time.

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Christmas decoration companies that seem to have disappeared off the scene in the last ten years were Snow White, Widmanns, Mr. Christmas, Li-Lo, Salco, Fairfull, Big Decs. and Altfield.

January 2001 ●

I was Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Harrogate show back in 2001. The show was full to the rafters with quite a few Christmas suppliers anxious to have more space. The new Hall ‘M’ made its debut and greatly added to the success of the show. Show organizer Graham Scott was retiring after 22 years at the helm.

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Leslie Barnet of Mr. Christmas fame and a doyen of the Christmas industry celebrated his 80th birthday and really was Mr. Christmas

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Focus Do It All were major High Street retailers and had just announced. The acquisition of Great Mills for a mere £285m. quoting a combined turnover of £1.5 billion, second only to B. & Q.

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Festive Productions moved to Cwmbran where they are to this day

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I was sorry to write that Claus Benedict the founder of Porth Textiles had recently passed away. It was Claus who persuaded me to create a totally separate magazine for the Christmas Decoration industry.

His wife told me that Claus had a fall at Harrogate during the 2000 show and that this led to his demise. He was working and enjoying the challenge of Harrogate to the very end.

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My team at Christmas in January challenged Premier Decs., to a ten pin bowling match. Sadly, we were bowled over in no uncertain fashion with captain John Athwal leading from the front. My total score was an embarrassment to my staff!

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Graham Pielow’s C.C.G. run a brilliant party to celebrate the opening of their new showroom that included an Abba tribute band. Graham certainly new how to throw a great party!

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January 2016 ●

This was our 26th edition of Christmas in January and I note that the picture of me on our Leader page showed a lot more grey hair compared to my first edition all those years ago. The Harrogate show was noted for the big increase in Christmas products and particularly lighting, controlled by the use of iphones, ipads and other android devices. I wonder what my grandparents would have made of it all!

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The ‘Greatest Christmas’ awards celebrate their 7th year. These were evenings of great celebration and such a shame they moved away from Harrogate never to be seen of again.

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Gardman and Bonnington Plastics are making inroads into the Christmas market, but sadly after just a few years, both companies seem to have pulled out of the Festive marketplace.

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I bemoan the fact that so many lighting products use minute Phillips screws for their battery cases. Hopefully this has improved over the last five years.

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Smart Garden Products (SMG) make their debut within our pages with their ‘Three Kings’ range. Their stand at the entrance to Hall Q is very busy throughout the 2016 show.

christmasinjanuary.co.uk

CHRISTMAS

2021

SCAN THE QR CODE TO LET THE MAGIC BEGIN

Specialists, not Generalists Visit us at our inspiring showroom in Hertfordshire where you can explore the NOMA forest, walk around our lighting wonderland, and enjoy a Grillstream BBQ lunch in the LeisureGrow Bokkie.

Alternatively visit our showroom remotely with our immersive, highly detailed virtual guided showroom tour.

For Showroom bookings contact your local sales representative or call 01462 744500

www.noma.co.uk

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RETAIL Brookfields

Shop Talk!

Brookfields Garden Centre is an independent store with a long-standing, loyal customer base, located in Mapperley, Nottingham. Sarah Welsh caught up with operations manager Andy Parker about festive best-sellers, the importance of industry support and building Christmas amidst a pandemic…

How did you come to work within the garden centre sector Andy?

I knew from childhood that I wanted to work with plants, and went straight into the industry after college. I then moved from the plant side into retail management. I love the contact we have with customers and the creativity of the buying side.

Looking back over 2020, how did the Brookfields adapt to meet the Covid challenges?

Last year was challenging for everyone in many different ways. As a family-owned retail business we were no different, but it also a big learning experience. We pulled together as a team, as never before, to find ways to keep running the business in difficult circumstances, while keeping everyone safe.

The management team made an early commitment to bring in a raft of measures.

These included installing 22 sanitising stations across the store, staff training and endless updates to the Covid-19 risk assessment, which took our already ingrained health and safety culture to a whole new level. We had a queuing system, a one-way system for part of the store and during the first national lockdown we built a web shop from scratch to enable our customers to order online. This was very successful and most weeks we were delivering to more than 400 houses. Our catering manager Janice also led efforts to deliver thousands of afternoon teas to delighted customers. The furthest destination we delivered items to was South Wales.

We’ve had some amazing feedback from our customers about how safe they felt both in store, and the restaurant, when it was open.

I’d like to thank the whole team here for their amazing efforts, our suppliers and also the HTA and GCA who did such a great job of providing guidance and regular communication to the garden industry. Even though we are a single, family-owned garden centre, we never felt alone during the crisis.

What were your feelings approaching last 12 christmas in january

year’s festive sales season?

After such a strange and stressful year, we weren’t expecting anything marvellous from the team for Christmas. However, our festive crew came together and created a safe, spacious and easy to shop magical Christmas display. It was also clear that people were shopping early for the holiday.

We’d bought our stock well before there was any mention of the Covid virus, so we had plenty to choose from, including items from suppliers such as; Festive Productions, Heaven Send, Premier, Gisela Graham and Kaemingk.

Did your visual merchandising team still build the festive shop around themes and colours, despite social distancing restrictions?

Our Christmas team, led by Gianluca, with a great deal of help from merchandisers, Charlotte and Mandy, created some lovely looking displays using the colour collections we’d chosen. The displays were deliberately open and easy to navigate, with no dead ends or items in narrow aisles, to allow people to move freely and stay apart. The team also worked early mornings and late evenings in a safe environment, enabling our customers to shop the area in safety during the day.

We had a traditional theme, based around red, gold and green – which is always the best seller. Another theme was called ‘A walk on Boxing Day’, and featured woodland colours with a touch of white and frosting. We also had a party theme with blues, purples and iridescent shades and one called ‘Sweet Treats’ with pastel pink, green and mauve shades.

What product categories sold well for Brookfields last Christmas?

Lights sold particularly well for us. Customers were buying all sorts of lengths, colours and bulb sizes to decorate their outdoor spaces in a much bigger way than we have seen in many years. People locally decorated doors, windows, porches, lawns and even gutters!

Even our snowing icicle lights which always sell

well but haven’t increased in popularity for many years, sold out early.

We buy the bulk of our bauble collection from Festive. They always have a great choice and last year the designs went down a treat.

We only sell glass baubles to help reduce the amount of plastic in the collection. Tinsel, which is also made by Festive for us in Wales, was a big winner, and we’ve already purchased their new collection for this year.

Ornaments, ranging from a wooden fox wearing a festive jumper to a dripping silver Christmas tree, sold very well, as did our soft toy collection. And in addition to this our Christmas table and homewares went down a storm, as did candles.

When does planning for this Christmas start for you?

It’s already well underway. When it was safe to do so we visited a few suppliers to place orders for Christmas and garden furniture.

We’re also planning a trip to Kaemingk’s new UK showroom, depending on how this third lockdown goes. If we can’t travel, the buying team will utilise the virtual showrooms that many of our suppliers have now developed.

We’re looking forward to a fabulous Christmas 2021. There’s some great product out there and we’ll be putting on a wonderful show.

www.brookfieldsgardencentre.co.uk

christmasinjanuary.co.uk

Life may have looked a little different this year, but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all set for Christmas 2021.

SHOP IN OUR SHOWROOM!

Book your visit now:

Come and view our beautiful Christmas 2021 collections in our centrally located 6,500 sq ft showroom. Be inspired, see our quality first hand and get your Christmas buying done.

sales@floralsilk.co.uk 01778 425 205 Showroom: Bourne, Lincs, PE10 0BQ

There can be no substitute for seeing our collections in person but if this is not possible, we also offer virtual appointments.

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RETAIL Frosts

Sarah Waters - Head of Buying Jane Ladd - Senior Buyer

Excelling at the

Customer Experience The buying team behind Frosts Garden Centres envied festive retail production tell Sarah Welsh how loving local, crafting Christmas and lighting up the season all played their part in 2020…

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aving given birth to triplets in 2019, you could say that for Sarah Waters – Head of Buying for Frosts Garden Centres – last year was fairly eventful. But then she started work for the garden centre group she’s loved since childhood during the exact week Britain entered the first Covid-19 national lockdown.

For Sarah and Jane Ladd, Senior Buyer for Frosts, the past year has been anything but ‘normal’ when it comes to planning for the allimportant Christmas sales period. However, thanks to a wealth of local support for the award-winning familyrun group of four garden centres, located across four counties, and the strength of the Frosts team pulling together when it really mattered, it has ended up being both a positive and successful one.

Debenhams and John Lewis, but I live very close to Woburn Sands and Frosts has been part of my life since childhood. I’d always been interested in the garden centre sector, so when a vacancy for a creative manager came up I went for it.

Sarah: I’ve only been at Frosts for nine months, and joined the week we went into lockdown! Like Jane, I grew up locally to Woburn Sands, and when we had our triplets, Max, Orla and Nieve, we moved out of London to be closer to family and my job came up. I’d worked for Marks & Spencer and Debenhams before focusing on e-commerce for several years, but wanted to work for a smaller, family business. That family focus and the authenticity it brings is really important to our success at Frosts.

“Local, family-led businesses are popular right now… people have been rediscovering their high streets and that was a change that was needed, triggered

by Covid.”

How did you both come to work as creative buyers/managers within the competitive garden centre sector, and when did you start working for Frosts?

Jane: I’ve worked for Frosts for almost 10

year. Prior to joining I’d worked for a long time in the corporate world, for Marks & Spencer,

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Do you think that Covid-19 has driven a retail trend for consumers supporting more local brands?

Sarah: 20 years ago, retail was all about the

big players, but there is something about retailers that we know and love, and that hold a special place in our hearts. Local, family-led businesses are very popular right now, and Covid has really highlighted this.

People, perhaps working from home, have been rediscovering their local high streets and I think that was a change that was needed, triggered by Covid. We’re seeing the bigger players now focusing on digital, and smaller businesses offering unique experiences.

How important is the digital side to garden centres?

Sarah: At Frosts we are all about the customer experience, but multi-channel retailing is where online can come in. I think it’s about complementary services, but garden centres will always be about creating experiences, with online as an add-on. We have the shop floor space that means customers can come into store, feel great and be able to look and feel the product selection.

Jane: Our relationship with our customers is key, and focusing on the needs of our client base is really important to us. That’s why with Christmas retail we always want to make the customer experience bigger and better. We’re always pushing boundaries and thinking of details that make the shop more exciting to visitors.

How has Frosts grown the Christmas customer experience over the years.

What’s the recipe for success?

Jane: Frosts started as a nursery business, so

when the business first moved into Christmas retail, back then it was a brave and unique step to take. They started working with a local

christmasinjanuary.co.uk

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BRAND PROFILE i “Our Christmas Festive Lights

themes are based around colours, but we don’t slavishly follow trends – instead we work on our own palette.”

rotary club to offer a pop-up grotto, but now our Santa’s grotto is an essential part of the Frosts’ experience. Last year we started doing it in family bubbles, but also offered a virtual grotto experience where we posted out video packs to customers, personalised to boys and girls.

We also adapted and offered things like our Igloo dining experience at Woburn Sands and Willington.

How did Christmas sales fare for Frosts last year?

Sarah: Sales of Christmas cards were really

successful for us, and we did definitely see subtle shifts in customer spending. We saw bigger basket values, with customers maybe buying all the baubles from one theme for a decorating refresh. People who had saved money on things like holidays were investing more in Christmas.

Jane: Sales of festive trees and lights peaked earlier. The sales spike for our artificial trees is usually in late November, but people were buying pieces earlier on, after we opened our Christmas shops on October 1. I think Christmas offered something to look forward to last year, and customers wanted to buy bigger and better.

When does the logistical planning start in terms of building your Christmas shops in Frosts’ four stores?

Jane: We brief managers early on, around

May time, about the concepts and visions of our festive stories. They then take the brief and tailor it to the individual shops. There are key product focuses to feature, but it’s really important that each retail team ‘owns Christmas’ in their own store.

Sarah: Each of our store teams really knows their customers. We’re a local business within each of our four stores and that can affect how our festive themes are tailored. Not all the themes feature in all shops, it’s dependent on space. We want customers to go on a journey from one festive theme to another, building the excitement.

16 christmas in january

What were your festive themes for Christmas 2020?

Sarah: With Christmas trends, although we

think about trends and fashions, our focus is always about how something works for the Frosts’ customer base. The importance of the natural world, wellbeing and mindfulness for us is key, and last year two of our themes were Nature’s Gift and Best of Nature. The first centred on dusky pink and soft eucalyptus green, with muted matte silver, mixed with natural colours and materials.

Best of Nature was built around DIY and the idea of making your Christmas special, with things like wooden wreaths. We’d planned for this theme to be bigger with live demos in stores, but we’ll build on it for next year.

Jane: Our themes are based around colours, but we don’t slavishly follow trends – instead we work on our own palette. Our third theme last year was traditional, called Christmas Eve, featuring red, green, gold and tartan. Then we had Mountain Lodge, with lovely soft and midnight blue shades, inspiring by skiing and chalets. And finally, we had Seasonal Splendour, with copper, gold and metallic tones, and features such as smoked glass and animal print baubles.

When do you start planning for Christmas?

Sarah: We started thinking about Christmas

2021 last autumn. Initially we put mood boards together, research online and talk to our key suppliers. It’s amazing how colour trends start to emerge and we start pulling these together and anticipating the stories we’ll produce.

Usually Harrogate Christmas & Gift is a big show for us, but supplier showroom visits are also crucial to the process.

Jane: We try not to be formulaic, we want to be different, and that involves a clever mix of big festive suppliers and local one. We get approached by local brands, which is nice.

I think the whole concept of DIY and crafting Christmas will be much bigger this year and we’ll hopefully be offering interactive events in store as an essential part of our shop experience.

75 years of Success!

Frosts Group was founded in 1946 as a wholesale nursery by Harvey Frost. Its original specialisms were tomatoes and chrysanthemums!

Harvey’s sons Adrian and Brian went on to drive the expansion of the business, and in 1962 the trio founded Frosts at Woburn Sands, near Milton Keynes, which remains the flagship store to this day.

Frosts at Willington, in Bedfordshire, opened a decade later in 1972, followed by Millets Farm, Oxfordshire, in 1986, and more recently Brampton in Cambridgeshire in 2001.

The award-winning quartet of garden centres are renowned for well-designed restaurants and excelling at delivering original customer experiences, alongside their superior nursery knowledge.

This year Frosts Group celebrates 75 glorious years in business with many exciting things planned to mark the important anniversary.

Did any festive product area sell particularly well for you last year?

Sarah: Our ‘Light Your Home’ category

with decorative lights and objects did really well, whether it was hanging glass baubles or birchwood scenes for the mantelpiece.

Christmas has now moved on from just dressing your tree, and customers want to dress their porch and mantel as well.

Jane: Lit outdoor figurines were a big trend, from the more sophisticated wicker deer to multi-coloured snowmen.

What are your thoughts on how 2021 is looking for the garden centre sector?

Jane: I think a broad customer base is important

and we’ve certainly seen a growth in younger customers at Frosts. Children are interested in ‘grow your own’ and you can’t get that online.

Sarah: With my retail background, it’s been really interesting for me to look at how our competitors have fared in recent months.

We’re in a really good position in terms of building that seamless connection between bricks and mortar and online. I think customer perceptions of retail have grown and changed and something that’s hopefully come from the last awful year has been people thinking about how they can support local brands.

Visit www.frostsgardencentres.co.uk christmasinjanuary.co.uk

ChristInJan21_ShatchiA4advert_Layout 1 07/01/2021 20:18 Page 1

Visit our new Showrooms in Hitchin, Herts. Please call 01462 432600 for an appointment.

Artificial Trees Tree Decorations Wreaths and Garlands Indoor Lights Outdoor Lights Room Decor and much more...

For catalogues and a link to our Virtual Showroom Tour please call 01462 432600 to register

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PROFILE Smart Garden

Have Yourself a

Smart Christmas Smart Garden Product has extended its Three Kings Christmas range by adding over 160 new products for 2021.

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est-selling ranges from last season have been extended with many enticing new designs while there are numerous completely new designs – all at knockout prices.

The famous Gong Gang, firmly established as a Three Kings favourite, is even bigger, brasher and bolder than ever, while sure-fire sellers include new colours and sizes of Super Furries and Fairy Princesses.

The Festive Features section boasts a selection of new string and stake lights including CandyCane style stake lights along with Snow and Star DécorStakes, perfect for lighting pathways to lead Santa right to your front door. Further seasonal illuminations include a wide choice of Festive Gifts, TreeBelisks and luminescent LightSpheres.

18 christmas in january

For 2021, there is a new Super Bright Decor Low Voltage range. Available in three shapes; Star, Sphere and TreeCone, these Superbright Mega Classics deliver a powerful lighting punch.

By popular request, the range now includes an extensive choice of SnowSwirls and Snow Spheres, all proven fast-sellers and at unbeatable prices. And Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without Wreaths, Lanterns, Doorstops and Nutcrackers seasonal staples for every home!

Jonathan Stobart, Managing Director comments “We were thrilled with the reaction to our 2020 range and believe that we now have an even more compelling offering. For 2021 we have introduced numerous additions to complement existing ranges as well as a wide selection of new products. Smart Santa

and his industrious elves have been very busy…

Customers are most welcome to visit us at either of their showrooms in Peterborough or Abingdon and enjoy the Three Kings experience first hand. For those unable to visit in person, Smart invites you to visit their Virtual Christmas Showroom. Online visitors can look round the showroom at their leisure using an easy on-screen navigational tool. New products introduced for 2021 are clearly highlighted in high-resolution allowing users to zoom in and get a full appreciation of products, packaging and displays.

For more information, interviews or images please contact: Sulie Turner, Smart Garden Products

Tel: 01235 424124 Email: s.turner@sgpuk.com

christmasinjanuary.co.uk

Our Right Royal Pudding

Piers Croke of Gisela Graham London traces the history of the uniquely British dish that has crowned our Christmas feasts for centuries It’s the most universally Christmassy icon in our culture. It dates back at least 600 years. It’s also incontrovertibly British: you won’t find it anywhere in Europe or beyond, apart from in English-speaking outposts of the former British Empire.

It is our very own Christmas pudding.

Christmas pudding, along with mince pies and Yorkshire pudding, is one of the last relics of a once distinctive and inventive British cuisine. Our islands’ cookery tradition flourished for several hundred years until overwhelmed by the snobbish appeal of imported French chefs in the 19th century.

Here it was consumed on a 29-foot long Bench Table, made from a single Windsor oak, which she also donated, and which is still in use. By custom a piece of each year’s pudding was saved, to be mixed in with that of the following year. The tradition was maintained right up to 1966, and revived by the Queen Mother in 1971.

By Oliver Cromwell’s time in 1650 the pudding was a Christmas staple, and a symbol of joy, so much so that it had to be banned by law, along with all other “idolatrous” practices such as maypole dancing. With the Restoration of 1660 it was naturally among the first customs to be restored, along with the monarchy.

Throughout the Middle Ages Christmas was a time to push the boat out: twelve days of feasting and merrymaking ahead of the arrival of deep winter and the penitential fasting of Lent. Sixteenth century writers recorded feasts of pork, beef, lamb, fowls (including turkey for Henry VIII, an early-adopter of the bird in 1521), which were capped by a “plum pudding”.

It combined breadcrumbs and suet with the most prestigious and expensive ingredients: imported spices such as mace and “plums” which covered all kinds of dried fruits such as prunes, currants and raisins and candied fruit. Originally the pudding was savoury but as sugar become more widely available it was sweetened up, and livened up with alcohol such as sack – what we would call sherry - or dark beer.

But why is the pudding emblematically rendered round? The answer, of course, is that for centuries Christmas pudding was not steamed in a bowl but boiled in a pudding cloth, so that it ended up as an appealing globe. It’s as the globe that our company represents our treasured national pudding as a decoration on Christmas trees: an ancient tradition that will last …. forever?

Another royal pudding fan was no less than Elizabeth I. She is reputed to have donated a pudding mixed with her own hand to the lawyers of the Middle Temple.

Lead illustration from Eliza Acton’s “Modern Cookery” of 1845 Felt Christmas Pudding decoration by Gisela Graham London

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When the first cookery books appeared around 1700 the pudding and its basic ingredients had become more or less the pudding that we would recognise today. Such was its symbolic importance the German-born George I is said to have demanded it to celebrate his first Christmas in England in 1714 - and with it his right to be King of this country.

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See our Exhibition Stand in our Chesterfield Showroom for 2021

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Tel. +44 (0)1246-852140 Fax +44 (0)1246-854297 E-mail: sales@konstsmide.co.uk www.konstsmide.co.uk

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IN-FOCUS Premier Decorations

What a year it has been John Athwal of Premier decorations reflects on last year and 2021

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hat a year it has been. We have lived through some of the most unpredictable and challenging seasons ever. It has featured unprecedented shutdowns of economic activity and freedoms that we usually take for granted.

The world has had to cope with a pandemic and in addition the United Kingdom has had to deal with Brexit. Opportunities were created, won and lost. Businessesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, livelihoods and jobs destroyed. Overall the Christmas industry fared fairly well despite a very uncertain start back in March and April. During January and February many of us viewed what was happening the other side of the world as a Chinese problem, believing it would be dealt with from within China. The rest as they say, is history.

Last year we spoke about the ever-changing

60 christmas in january 24

marketplace and the availability of information on demand. Fast forward to this year and we can see this in play, in that were it not for the internet, survival during the pandemic would have been a whole different story. Click and Collect alongside home delivery became not only fashionable but an absolute necessity in some cases. They, together with other online services were key to our survival and wellbeing.

At the announcement of the first lockdown some customers and suppliers, unsure of their future, cancelled commitments without further thought but Premier, having lived through two or three major recessions during its lifetime, decided to battle on and kept to their commitments even placing further orders. Some factories were spooked by what the future may hold and demanded payments with orders, not willing to start production without being financially secured. Our China office who had to lockdown during January, February and March were instrumental in guiding us through our own pending lockdown. Premiers IT department went into overdrive and began preparations for entire teams of people simultaneously working from home following advice from our far east operation.

We were able to carry on business as usual with our wonderful team and were taking orders via our online ecommerce portal, by emails and even over the phone.

In fact, we became very flexible so as to make ordering as smooth and simple as possible for

our entire customer base.

The drama was not over yet. Factories were facing lockdowns, short staff, shortage of material and printers were facing staff on isolation. However, we managed to pull through our deliveries only then to face chaos at the ports in the UK. Shortage of containers was largely overcome, but the delays in the UK ports was something that we just had to accept.

Exhibitions were cancelled the world over, Zoom and Teams became the norm for communication.

Unable to travel, the Premier team set about learning how to cope with the new world order and our team in China became our eyes and ears in the far east working directly with our manufacturers.

Deliveries took place by and large on time and Internet sales took off creating demand

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that we were able to deal with. Retailers were reporting record sales and luckily, we had stocks that we could deliver straight away.

We look forward to 2021 with added optimism in the knowledge that we made it happen during such a difficult year. However, whilst writing this, it has just been announced that we will be in lockdown for another two to three months. We urge all customers to place their orders early as the immediate future is uncertain, but Christmas will happen.

Despite all the challenges, Premier have performed. Our lighting range has been enhanced with up to date packaging and a new colourway which will be rolled out across the entire range.

Even our highly successful Treebrights™ retail box has seen a makeover. Seen as the best specification in the market, the brand does what it says within its marketing… lights made for trees. Innovative colourways such as Rainbow and the growth of Vintage gold have kept this line at the top of buyers lists whilst the traditional Warm White, White and Multi Colour still provide the base. Available in 6 colourways including a new for 2021 Vintage Gold with Red (RVG), this is a must stock line.

Speaking of must stock lines, Premiers Microbrights™ and Ultrabrights™ offerings have performed exceedingly well. Pin wire Pyramid trees and Hanging Curtains have proved to be best sellers for the Christmas season so expect the introduction of new options in both of these areas for next year as well as the introduction of more pin wire products across the board.

With the advent of online consumer demand now matching that of bricks and mortar retailing, it has become

even more crucial for product innovation to encompass the ability to be shipped directly to the customer, safely and in perfect condition.

Many of Premier’s ranges include products suitable for online retailers. Premier were first to market with its innovative “Soft Touch Acrylic” which has enabled products that were once confined to customer collection, to now be shipped worldwide safely direct to households. Over the last few years this range has increased threefold and includes many exclusive Premier designs.

“Exclusivity” is also part of Premier’s DNA and across our whole catalogue of products customers will find unique, innovative SKUs that enable retailers to compete equally in an ever competitive market place such as our best selling Norbert the Singing & Dancing Nordic Pine, our hopping, musical Rockin Robin or our new for 2021 Tedward the story telling bear.

Whether its Lighting, Candlebridges, Lit sculptures, Themes, Trees or core decorations, you can rely on Premier to be at the forefront of product design.

Initial customer comments surrounding our new collections indicate our home décor is a sure fire winner. With new buyers and a fresh offering for 2021 Premiers’ themed ranges encompass 6 stylish interior collections and our ever popular rainbow items from last year have been significantly enhanced- we now offer a full rainbow collection around this favourite celebratory icon.

An abundance of new and exclusive decorative lines in both traditional and modern colours mean we have something for everyone. Our themes also

feature many new innovative products in core colours as well as in fashion trends, making it especially easy to create your own looks for a point of difference.

We are particularly proud of our new floristry range of stylish stems in an array of finishes and colours, to create that festive feel around the home. They offer great value and a new dimension to tree dressing.

Consumers continue to expect new ideas and styles for the home – we are excited to be making this our focus over the coming years .

Come and see for yourself and be inspired!

The Premier Tree Company continues to grow with 2020 being our biggest season yet. This was driven by our continued goal of delivering high quality at exceptional value. With at least 6 images per tree available, including lifestyle shots, Premier was also able to help our customers sell online where perhaps they hadn’t previously. As already touched upon within this article, the change in retail came with the challenge of delivering goods to the end consumer – something not done before by many garden centres.

Premier was fully equipped to meet this challenge head on with our trees already being supplied with fluted cardboard boxes able to travel through any courier system, arriving to the end consumer in absolute pristine condition.

We hope that the new season will deliver prosperity for all and will continue to endeavour that Premier is able to support it’s customers throughout. Our showrooms are fully open and measures are in place to ensure the safety of visitors as well as our own staff. Please contact your Sales Account Manager to make an appointment or indeed get yourself registered for our e-commerce solution and buy online at www.premierdec.com.

christmas in january 25

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PROFIL Premier Halloween

Turning market changes and challenges into opportunities…

Premier Decorations sees opportunities in the necessity of change and the current difficulties that the market and businesses are facing.

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remier always sees the full half of the glass and takes the positive side of every situation and challenge. We have all faced a number of obstacles these past 12 months and without a doubt all businesses, small and large, have been affected. They have had to adjust and find new, safe and effective ways to reach demands of the market and everyday consumers.

Online selling has seen incredible growth and has become an integral part of consumer shopping habits and choice. Premier has worked to improve its online services making it easier than ever to shop. Premier provides detailed information regarding the specification of every product alongside a whole library of images and video that is available to support customers’ own needs for online. The search facilities have also

been improved to make sure customers don’t miss out on any of the products available due to inefficient search criteria.

Halloween has seen significant growth this year and people are spending more and more for this holiday, looking for new, different and spectacular items. Premier’s soft acrylic range of shapes and characters, having been highly successful for Christmas is now launched for the first time at Halloween. There’s a number of new and exciting SKUs available, all of which customers are able to peruse via the printed Premier Halloween catalogue as well as via its online portal.

Exciting large and very large inflatables with playful disco lights or colour-changing LEDs have also been added into the range due to the uplift in sales for this type of product, which seem to have become a must-have for Halloween décor. These are an ideal product for the online market and Premier has a number of tools available to help support sales.

Family and indoor activities have started becoming traditional for Halloween and in anticipation there are new ranges of gadgetry toys, plush animated toys and activities such as spinning and dancing witch hats or spiders, sensor-controlled aircrafts, 3D puzzles or mini blocks completing the Halloween 2021 range.

The gory animated characters are still a lead seller and Premier has expanded its

offering with some exciting new animations from small to very large, all with lights and sound and sensor activated. Get ready to scream as they will creep you out!

Halloween lighting also has quite a few surprises packed in for you. Premier’s outdoor lit garden stakes play spooky sounds and are sensor activated. These, alongside the new amazing lit Halloween motifs, give a great visual and audio impact to your celebrations.

The Premier showrooms have measures in place to make them Covid-safe and the sales account managers would be glad to make an appointment for you to visit.

Alternatively you can always place your order online by registering for an account.

Tel: 020 8624 5555 | Web: www.premierdec.com/Halloween-Collection Email: sales@premierdec.com 26 christmas in january

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COLLECTION 2021 w w w. r i f f e l m ac h e r . d e

To organise a personal visit with a local representative and to order our latest catalogues or trendbook Contact: John King Tel: 0049 1520 9527 957 Email: John.king@riffelmacher.de www.riffelmacher.de

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IN-FOCUS Riffelmacher

Riffelmacher enjoy continued U.K. growth in their 100th year!

As one of Germany’s fastest-growing suppliers of all things Christmas, Riffelmacher have been steadily building their U.K. business with more and more garden centres and stores appreciating both the quality, service and competitive price points they are able to offer.

John King Riffelmacher, Head of Export Sales

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s I found out when visiting their Bavarian headquarters in Roth, not many miles from Nuremberg, they have for many years been at the forefront of tinsel design and technology, where they are able to provide an amazing variety of colour-ways, thicknesses and lengths to impress even the most discerning of buyers and of course can also handle individual requests for bespoke own-brand selections.

The U.K. has seen big sales increases with tinsel sales with customers most impressed with its quality and quick delivery from Germany in beautiful condition, immediately ready for sale on header cards that are either loose by the piece or in themed displayers.

Riffelmacher must also have possibly the largest selection of glass baubles available in a huge multitude of colours and available to the customer in many different sizes and configurations. Made in their own factory near to the Birthplace of the Christmas ornament, and with the ‘Made in Germany’ label for which we all today associate with Quality and finesse.

As one of the oldest German companies in the Christmas business, following Frank Marchl’s appointment as CEO in 2001, they have grown to become a major influence in Germany and have a healthy Export business that sees consistent growth across Europe.

Spearheading the U.K. sales is John King, now enjoying his 6th year as Riffelmacher’s Export manager. With his 30 years of experience in the Christmas decoration industry, John’s input has seen U.K. sales increase dramatically since he joined the company. 2020 saw the UK and Irish team almost

28 christmas in january

double their turnover. John King tells me that their delivery record in the U.K. was ‘Impeccable’ – the best he’s achieved in 30 years, this coupled with personal service also saw them increase sales all over Europe, opening with new agents in many Export countries.

“Knowing the problems that all suppliers faced in 2020, we put in place additional systems to ensure the smooth flow of product to our customer with on-time and accurate deliveries.” Added John.

Riffelmacher Brand New Warehouse is now open.

Through one of the most turbulent years our industry has known, Riffelmacher still managed to build their new warehouse with another additional Four loading bays. The new building also has facilities for freight drivers to relax and even shower before they carry on with their onward journey.

With further investment into a state of the art order picking and stock management system Riffelmacher have future proofed their business for the foreseable future and brought more flexibility and space for further growth. Also housed in the new building is our brand new showroom. A wonderful open plan space will bring a whole new buying experience to our visiting customers.

was we were factoring in up to three weeks delay in deliveries but the reality was we ended up shipping at least one week earlier than last year to most of our customers. Our brand new purpose built warehouse which came online in August 2020 has already proven to be an invaluable asset and investment.

M.N. Despite Covid 19 affecting China before it swept across the rest of the world, I’m told that China’s manufacturing base very quickly returned to normal manufacturing. Was this the case with your suppliers?

J.K. Yes, this was the case for most of our suppliers.

China came back online relatively quickly and sooner than we all expected. The reality of this situation

M.N. Your U.K. sales have shown a fantastic increase over the last few years. How do you manage the team being based in Germany yourself?

J.K. Our Sales team in the UK is incredible. I honestly credit them with the drive and passion needed to make this a success. We are really pleased to have such a professional team of people representing us

M.N. Garden Centres particularly have managed to avoid closure apart from the early months of the year, so how has Covid impacted on your U.K. sales?

J:K: At the time of writing, the reports from our customers are only positive towards Christmas sales.

Despite local lockdowns, Tier systems and National lockdowns our Garden centre customers have really outperformed this year. Normally the UK starts much earlier than in Germany and this year was an exceptionally early start. We shipped the stock as fast as we could turn it around, our customers were very understanding should a small back order follow and just seemed pleased to receive everything as soon as available. We shipped more re-orders and top-up orders in 2020 than I’ve ever known, Who would have thought it thinking back to the situation in the first quarter of 2020.

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and on top of that they are really nice people and have a really close connection to our customers!

When you work with a company such as ours you can be rest assured our team have had an input as to what our UK offering will be and are deeply immersed in the themes and collection long before the first customer contact. For me, based in Germany, I’m always on hand to advise and support the team in any way possible and to ensure they have the right tools for the job.

M.N. I know that in addition to your in-house design team, you use trend analysis to give you ideas on new and exciting colour blends. Natural materials including wood for traditionally made Christmas ranges had been big sellers in the past.

What can we expect for 2021? I believe that the public increasingly across the world are embracing natural materials, as they are continually being made aware of the perils that plastic waste has made to the oceans of the world.

J:K We were one of the first companies that produce a Trend book every year. Here buyers can see which colours, themes and media will be popular for the coming season. This Trend book is always available in September with the main product catalogue following in time for the main buying season. In our new 2021 catalogue we have again expanded our collections with environmental considerations in mind. A particular winner has been our ‘Eco Bauble packs’ M.N. Riffelmacher are able to customize their bauble business and back at home our Swarovski bauble will take pride of place on our tree this Christmas, so might we see another NEW bauble to complement your Union Jack bauble for the U.K.?

J.K. Yes, we have introduced a new line of 24 Carat Baubles. Expensive as you would expect but the uptake has been incredible. All mouth-blown and hand decorated in Germany this Special collection will include several sizes and shapes for 2021. If you are looking for a Premium Bauble and not available in every store then really you needn’t look further.

We produce many bespoke ornaments for customers every year and any company interested in such an item should feel free to contact us and we can talk through your ideas. Whether it be your company Logo or a special message or a bauble to be used as a give away for Promotional purposes, we can fulfil all your wishes and bring your ideas to reality.

M.N. Has the recently introduced tinsel display stand been well received and do your

customers appreciate that tinsel manufactured in Germany is far better quality-wise than its Chinese competitors?

J:K. Our Tinsel tower stand was very well received and we saw this replicated in quite a few centres in 2020. A simple idea but then the best ideas often are. Our Customers really can feel and see the difference with our tinsel and the fact it can all be used indoor and outdoor because of it’s unique production just adds an additional sales stream for our customers. Our Tinsel always arrives at the customer with that ‘Just off the machine’ look and feel and hasn’t travelled half way around the world tightly packed in a container for weeks on end.

M.N. What new colour themes can we look forward to for 2021 and do you find that sometimes what might be popular in Germany and the rest of Europe, might not necessarily have the same reaction here in the U.K. and Ireland?

J:K As every year customers look to us as trendsetters to see what the latest colours will be.

Our new themes for 2021 include ‘Honesty’ This theme is about getting back to nature and back to our roots with it’s Natural colours, wood, cones, leaves and pinecones and rustic candle lanterns.

After the hectic turbulent year of 2020, this theme gives us a chance of quiet contemplation and a feeling of security and wellbeing.

Another of our new themes is Silent Moments.

A wonderful assortment of green,gold and Curry and very Opulent, rich and strong. More statement pieces and a theme for home decoration not only for Christmas but for the whole year.

Moody Blue is another new theme for 2021, Based on the Pantone colour of the year 2020, blue is is a very trusting and grounded colour, gives us a feeling of safety and combined with browns and golds this is truly a wonderful new theme for Christmas.

One of my jobs and that of my UK team is to ensure the correct themes come to Harrogate. For sure, there are themes which could be considered too European or it could be that we did something similar the year before. We also sometimes find in our extensive research that an upcoming trend could actually work better in the UK than in our

domestic market. Apart from Red, Gold and Silver which everyone expects to see it’s important to strike the right note and tailor the palette somewhat.

Christmas is Fashion and it’s important to be on trend and on time because it’s too late to react twelve months later.

M.N. Of course with travel restrictions I assume that customers have not been unable to travel to Bavaria to visit your show rooms and also enjoy Nurnberg’s Christmas market. Has this impacted on 2021 sales?

J:K. Our main Showroom has opened 1st week of December and we have a steady stream of customers through but because of restrictions at the moment they are mainly from Germany. We have also teamed up with 14 other trusted partners within our industry to create a Mini Christmasworld in Northern Germany. Here customers can visit and see many other companies in one location.

This has been a complete success, the partners share information about how many visitors they expect on a certain day and the flow of visitors can be managed in a very safe way conforming to all current regulations concerning social distancing and as you would expect Hand sanitizer stations are also located throughout the venue. What will be very important for us in 2021 will be personal visits.

If customers cannot make it to showrooms or Fairs then our newly extended field sales team will be on hand to assist wherever possible. We have our Trend book, Catalogues both printed and E-catalogues, we have our 3D showroom links and samples can always be shipped on request.

M:N. Of all the products you sell, was there a ‘stand out’ item in 2020.

J.K. Oh Yes!!! in 2020 we introduced a new range of wooden rustic lanterns. We Palletised them on displayers and mixed the designs with red and white candles in glass holders. We had hoped to order and sell a full truckload during 2020. By the end of the Harrogate Fair this was already a reality. This item was also our biggest re-order item of 2020. Other stand out items were our Mango wood range of gift products and wooden and metal lantern sets.

To organise a personal visit with a local representative and to order our latest catalogues or trendbook Contact John King. Tel: 0049 1520 9527 957 Email: John.king@riffelmacher.de www.riffelmacher.de christmas in january 29

collection 2021

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COLLECTION 2021

riffelmacher + Weinberger

w w w. r i f f e l m ac h e r . d e

EXHIBITION Harrogate

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Harrogate Christmas & Gift moves to early May The last year has without doubt left the majority of us feeling an air of uncertainty regarding our business and social lives alike; and the gift industry has been no exception.

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arrogate Christmas & Gift was fortunate enough to be one of the few UK trade shows able to experience ‘business as usual’ in 2020, celebrating another bumper event in January – just weeks before the news of COVID and subsequent social restrictions hit the national news.

However, in 2021 we have not been as fortunate and the restrictions and logistics for staging such a huge trade event have, as expected, been numerous and unprecedented.

Simon Anslow, Harrogate Christmas & Gift show organiser explains: “After the first lockdown in spring 2020, our January show seemed a long way off and believing that the COVID situation would be under control by then, we carried on with plans as usual. By the autumn, it became blaringly apparent that this was becoming less likely and with the Prime Minister stating that it could be a further six months before exhibitions could reopen, we started to look at Plan B. “The usual home for Harrogate Christmas & Gift – the Harrogate Convention Centre – is currently being used as a nightingale hospital, so our first challenge was to find an alternative venue. Fortunately, The Yorkshire Event Centre (YEC) situated on the edge of Harrogate ticked all of the boxes with excellent modern facilities, great accessibility and close to the town and amenities. We pencilled in a new show date of

28th February 2021 and were delighted to have the support of some of our bigger exhibitors such as Premier Decorations, Festive Productions and Gisela Graham, who were all impressed with the proposed new venue. The YEC team is already very COVID aware, with special measures in place to ensure the safety of those using the facilities. We had also planned to extend the period of the show to dilute the concentration of visitors over a longer period.

“On Friday 18th December, just a week before Christmas, we received information from the local authority that multi-day exhibitions would be allowed providing correct COVID measures were put into place. Our elation at this news was quickly deflated the following day on the 19th December with the announcement of a new variant of COVID and the rapid spread throughout London and the South East. This situation saw much of the country plunged back into Tier 4 lockdown and the Prime Minister’s announcement of a countrywide lockdown on the 4th January meant there is no chance of the show going ahead as planned in February.”

Simon continues, “Ultimately the most important thing is the safety of everyone involved in the show and the majority of the exhibitors signed up are keen to participate in Harrogate

“We are delighted to confirm that we have now secured new dates for the show from Sunday 9th May to Tuesday 11th May 2021 at the Harrogate Convention Centre”

Christmas & Gift as and when it is able to happen.

The festive and gift industry is quite unique – unlike industries where items are mostly branded and familiar to consumers – with these types of products, buyers really need to see and feel them to get the vibe of whether they will suit their store and customer requirements.

“We are delighted to confirm that we have now secured new dates for the show from Sunday 9th May to Tuesday 11th May 2021 at the Harrogate Convention Centre and will keep everything crossed that the Covid situation is under control and we are able to continue with plans by this time.”

Harrogate Christmas & Gift is one of the UK’s favourite trade shows not only for festive goods, but novelties and gifts for all occasions.

Buyers attend from numerous sectors including garden centres, department stores, independent retailers and gift shops, tourist attractions and heritage centres and even cathedrals and places of worship seeking souvenirs and gifts and decorations for special occasions.

Simon concludes: “This has been such a difficult year and we hope that everyone has managed to stay safe and enjoy some semblance of celebrations over the Christmas period. We thank all of our exhibitors and visitors for their patience and understanding of the predicament facing not just Harrogate Christmas & Gift, but everyone involved in the exhibition industry and retail sector – and we look forward to welcoming you all back sometime in 2021, when hopefully we can return to our businesses as normal.”

Visit the website at www.harrogatefair.com for the latest information and updates. christmas in january 31

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PROFILE Noma

It is all about

innovation When you acquire a Christmas brand with a long history in the Christmas lighting business such as Noma, it is essential that you not only keep to that companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quality values, but you also add new categories to keep the name fresh and at the forefront of the industry.

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I

nviting Frank Kaminski to head up the category and also sales & marketing team was a shrewd move and eight years on, the fruits of that appointment are there for all to see.

Frank told me that Noma were facing challenging but exciting times. “You have to be on your toes and to be constantly creating new themes and ideas. It’s all about innovation!”

With a range that comprises around 1,000 items, everything should have a light on it, that is apart from their non-lit Christmas trees where their trees begin at 45cm., up to twelve metres in height.

I put a number of questions to Frank to learn more of how they tackled 2020 and their plans for 2021

M.N. You introduced a collection of really BIG trees up to 12 metres in height for both consumers and public displays.

How was the reaction to these?

F.K. The reaction to the ‘Starry Nights’ range has been tremendous, especially with independent retailers, they always want a showstopper in their Christmas displays and themes. With 4,000 LED’s, a 12 metre tree is the perfect centerpiece to build displays around and create a beacon of excitement to bring consumers to your store. They’ve been so successful we’ve added to the collection for this year, starting at one metre high, we now have a ‘Starry Nights’ tree to enhance the imagination for every household. Warm white LED’s are always the number one choice but our new colour changeable trees include 100’s of colour choices and are the perfect compliment to all Christmas colour themes.

M.N. We all know just how challenging 2020 was for everyone. How did you and your team cope with creating your new ranges for 2021 without actually visiting China?

F.K. We have always had close daily contact with our 21 China colleagues. Daily morning ‘teams’ meetings with our UK technical, shipping and buying teams have become the new start to our daily routine. Our China team have been our eyes and ears with our manufacturing partners. New product development has continued at pace and factory showrooms throughout China have become our own creative hubs.

M.N. I learnt from a number of suppliers that China bounced back fairly quickly, once they had sorted out their Covid problems. Was this the case with Noma?

F.K. China has bounced back amazingly after their initial outbreak back in January 2020. The quick reaction of the China government certainly nipped the pandemic in the bud. Our partners were back to normal in no time, which was a great relief for us all.

Sadly as we speak it would seem that Covid has reared its head again in mainland China, I hope the Chinese government can stamp out its threat as efficiently as they did last year.

M.N. Your USB lighting range did away completely with the need for a transformer. How well was this accepted?

F.K. USB lighting is certainly one for the future. I think the general trade and public need time to be convinced that their Christmas lights and decorations can be sold and bought without a power adapter. At Christmas consumers want a simple ‘readymade’ solution to their household displays.

Environmentally I think USB’s and variants of will eventually have their day.

M.N. I mentioned earlier that with such a classic company as Noma, Leisuregrow would want to keep a number of Noma’s Classic items. Therefore, has your Heritage bulb collection been well accepted in 2020 and will this continue to be offered for 2021?

F.K. NOMA Classics filament lights have been the backbone of the range since 1939. It is no surprise to us that our customers still want these lights in their ranges. Christmas is full of nostalgia and memories, the feedback our customer services receive throughout the year backs up that consumers want something that LED’s light strings do not give, especially our shaded ranges of ‘Pickwicks’, ‘Victorian Lanterns’ and ‘Canterbury Belles’. I can’t see these being replaced by LED’s for a good few years.

M.N. I’m sure you have been showing visitors your 2021 range from your showroom?

F.K. It’s been a different 2020 for

everyone and January 2021 just won’t be the same without Harrogate. Therefore we made sure our Christmas showrooms opened earlier back in November to coincide with the launch and circulation of our 2021 Christmas brochure. We have never been so busy making sure our customers have all the information they need to create their ranges. LeisureGrow’s hospitally is one not to be missed. Not only do we make sure their visit is as safe as it could possibly be, but they are treated to an experience that they will remember and look forward to year after year. Our newly re-furbished showrooms are full of our inspirational innovative commercial ranges that suit everyone’s tastes. Together with an amazing lunch prepared on our very own ‘Grillstream’ BBQ, whatever the weather we promise you an experience you won’t forget. We do realize that not all our customers can travel, therefore we have invested on a full virtual tour experience and range of product videos to highlight all ranges within our Christmas showrooms. Our sales team are available at customers convenience to take them through this magical Christmas wonderland experience. Customers can also discover our collections on our newly refurbished NOMA website.

Tel: 01462 744500 | www.noma.co.uk Email: frank.kaminski@leisuregrow.com christmas in january 35

J Quirky Design i

PROFILE Giftware Trading

at Competitive Prices Ben Jeffrey, Managing Director at Bristol-based Giftware Trading, has built his brand on a reputation for seasonal products that stand out from the crowd, as Sarah Welsh discovers…

O

ne vivid memory that stands out for Ben Jeffrey from the past challenging year is sitting at his kitchen table, ‘ordering Christmas’, back in the early part of the first national Covid-19 lockdown.

“I recall my wife asking what I was doing, and that it got me out of helping our eight-year-old son with maths I didn’t understand!” Ben says. “It might have seemed a bit odd at that time considering the context, but for Giftware Trading as a business, Christmas is a huge percentage of our sales, and I think the festive season was as important to suppliers as it was to retailers in 2020.

“It wasn’t the best Christmas we’ve ever had, but considering everything I was really happy with where we ended up.”

Ben has been running Giftware Trading – a company founded by his father Keith some three decades ago – since 2009, and in the years since Christmas has become even more of a focus for the company.

Giftware Trading prides itself on understanding its customer base and unique place in the trade market, and works with around 50 different suppliers in Asia, supplying products with a difference to clients ranging from garden centres to mail order companies. The company’s Christmas range encompasses in the region of 2,500 different items, all at ‘realistic price points.’

Ben says that 2020 started off very positively, with successful shows at Harrogate Christmas & Gift and Spring Fair, with many customers placing orders or requesting quotes, and around 90% of these converting to sales.

“With hindsight, I obviously didn’t understand the importance of that successful first few months of

last year, when I was travelling back from the NEC,” he explains. “But we came back with a really good understanding of what ranges would be popular.

Trade shows are brilliant for taking the temperature of customers on new items, and it is hard to recreate that, even with a great showroom and website.

“Our safari themed tree decorations sold well for last Christmas, as well as porcelain and ceramic decorations and figures. We work very closely with our suppliers in China, and usually travel there two or three times a year. This year it has obviously been different – there’s been a lot of trawling through design photographs and making tweaks, but our positive, long standing relationships have stood us in good stead.

“Some of our Christmas pieces are exclusive and some aren’t, but we also design a few pieces in house and then have them made.”

Ben says that the Giftware Trading team usually start work on each Christmas collection 18 months prior to that particular festive season, but sometimes it starts even earlier after the Spring Fair almost two years before the big day.

Key pieces for Christmas 2021 for the brand will include the expansion of their successful white

ceramic reindeer collection, and a quirky carrot tree decoration, that follows the popularity of a sprout design last Christmas.

“Character-led designs and quirky items sell really well for us,” Ben reveals. “We always try to come up with something less obvious that then quickly catches on. We also have a nice range of peacock items for this Christmas, featuring glass decorations and peacock feathers.

“Our quality range of resin pieces sold really well last year, so we hope to build on this success, and we always have traditional colourways as well as silver, gold and champagne designs.”

Ben says one huge positive of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the feedback from their independent retailers who have fared well sales-wise despite the lockdowns and tiered restrictions.

“Despite it being a very challenging year for retail, we’ve heard from plenty of independent shops who have received great support from their local community,” he says. “Despite the gloom and doom you often here about the sector, it seems that consumers have realised the importance of their local high street since the onset of the Coronavirus outbreak. In fact, customers have told us that the local support has actually been a little humbling.

“I do think that Christmas 2021 will be very busy, and that hopefully we’ll all be in a much better place by then. People are valuing spending time with their family, especially at Christmas – and investing in that.”

Visit: www.giftwaretrading.co.uk, email: info@giftwaretradingco.co.uk, or call: 0117 972 0506 36 christmas in january

christmasinjanuary.co.uk

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PROFILE FDL

Festoon party lights

Firelamp De-luxe Reindeers

Quality, cost and innovation

from FDL

FDL will continue to supply the wholesale, retail and commercial design markets with the focus very much on QUALITY, COST AND INNOVATION.

T

he company will be presenting many new lines for 2021 extending the range of Firelamps and Simuflame candle sets.

FDL will also be introducing a new range of Festoon party lights plus a range of de-luxe outdoor acrylic Reindeers.They will also be introducing a new range of XL-XP light strings and XP SYNCHRONE RGB remote controllable light sets.

The company would also like to invite you to make an appointment to view their complete range of products in their South Manchester showroom.

Alternatively, they can have one of their sales team visit you at your preferred location.

be supplied either static or with a random twinkle. FDL will be also be introducing to the XL range a 3m Icicle , 2 x 3m Net, 5m Cluster & various Curtains all these products are proving popular in both the commercial and retail sectors.

CANDLED The company are exclusive distributors for this LED candle range made in Devon in the heart of the Tamar valley. Candled pride themselves on being a luxury brand with a real wax finish and an elegant life-like flame. The candles are realistic in colour texture, wick and flicker. Now used by the National Trust and event venues across the UK. They are a perfect addition for any setting.

FIRELAMP ™ The FDL Firelamp range has been extended for 2021. They supply lamps with both E14 and E27 fittings. 64 & 96 surface mounted diode (SMD) versions are available. The company also have the FIRELAMP TORCH which has proven to be extremely popular for both the summer and winter seasons and have introduced the FIRELAMP TORCH with solar power for 2021.

FDL believe that there are many inferior copies on the market and suggest you come and see the original FIRELAMP range for yourself.

XP Range synchrone set

SIMUFLAME™ The company now have an extensive range of Simuflame candles for 2021. The collection includes sets of three, with both timer and remote in a variety of colours and diameters.

They also have a giant 15cm diameter candle range which can be powered by battery, giving an incredible 1,000 hours of burning time.

Alternatively, they can be used in conjunction with the SIMUFLAME power pack and plugged directly into the mains.

XP RANGE FDL have added XP SYNCHCRONE RGB light strings and XP-XL light strings to the already extensive range of XP products. The XP SYNCHCRONE is a remote controlled set with 8 colour modes, 6 function effects and 2 speed options.

The XL-XP is a 10mm LED with cap and can

38 christmas in january

Contact: Robert Taylor ☎ 0161 474 7772 ✉ Email: fdl@fdl.li christmasinjanuary.co.uk

J i

PROFILE Floralsilk

A Flair for Festive Flamboyance Like many leading Christmas suppliers, family-run Floralsilk has had a challenging 12 months, but the Lincolnshire based team is all fired up for Christmas 2021…

F

loralsilk is a company renowned for its focus on product innovation and also an ability to evolve to deliver the best service possible to its many varied customers.

From the nation’s household name department store brands, to independent retailers, the Floralsilk team understands perfectly how to cater flexibly to different needs – which is a skill that all savvy businesses have needed in large supply over the past extraordinary year in retail.

Run by husband-and-wife team, Managing Director Liam O’Flaherty, and his wife Stephanie, who is HR, Finance and Marketing Director, Floralsilk is expecting more than 100 visits from buyers and customers at its 6,500 square foot show room, located in Bourne, Lincolnshire, over January and February. Christmas in January caught up with Stephanie to look back over 2020 and hear about Floralsilk’s exciting new ranges for this Christmas.

How has this unprecedented year for retail treated Floralsilk?

2020 started out fantastically well for us with two successful trade fairs at Harrogate and Spring Fair.

However, our sales did suffer significantly during lockdown, with the vast majority of our customers closed from March to June. We also closed down our business for this period too, but trade picked up in July and we saw a real appetite for our Christmas collection, with repeat orders coming through from September. It seemed everyone was trying to cheer themselves up with Christmas decorations last year.

were launched. For instance, our Robin on a clip and our Spiral Eucalyptus spray always sells well, not to mention our Land Rover Christmas tree decoration, which comes in four different colours.

One of our best-selling ranges for last Christmas was our Barholm wreath and garland.

They are traditional berry and foliage decorations featuring chunky pine cones, which add a contemporary feel. Glittered fern sprays and pine sprays have also been popular.

adding a modern twist to a warm and opulent red, gold and pink colour palette.

The sustainable and conscious consumer will also come back in force next year, looking for natural, recycled materials with no glitter. Our Nature collection is fresh, clean and pretty and will meet their needs.

With big changes to the usual retail trade event calendar, how busy have showroom visits been for you?

We started developing our theme and product ideas back in the summer of 2020. Our inspiration comes from the fashion world, interior trends, Instagram and many of the key influencers. We pride ourselves on offering an unrivalled range of festive products, and ensure that we have a mix of both classic and contemporary items in key season colours.

Some themes are trend-led, offering exciting new products with a twist – picture a pink and red pampas grass tree, whilst others pay homage to the more traditional feel and evoke childhood memories of Christmas by the fire.

We’re delighted that so many customers have booked in to see our 2021 Christmas and Floral ranges. Our showroom is a large space, and considerably bigger than our trade fair stands at Christmas & Gift or the Spring Fair, so it’s the best way for us to showcase our full collection. These visits will be the first time many of our customers have been to us here, and we’re quite confident that once they’ve seen what an incredible space we have and how accessible we are from most parts of the UK, that they will come again.

In terms of florals and greenery, what colours and style trends will be popular for this Christmas?

How far in advance do you start preparing for Christmas 2021, and where does the inspiration come from?

Silk florals have grown massively in popularity in recent years. What do you think is driving this?

Social media has certainly had an impact on our desire to create beautiful spaces, wherever we are. We are surrounded by visual stimuli and the more we see, the more we want to recreate in our surroundings. There’s no doubt that flowers and plants bring a room to life, but maintaining real plants and especially cut flowers is no easy task and is also incredibly expensive. Our faux flowers and plants have the same visual impact but without the maintenance and cost of fresh. They really do mean that your home is always ‘insta-ready’!

In terms of Christmas product, what were stand out sellers for you in 2020?

Are there any colour and product trends that will carry over for this year?

We’re increasingly seeing interior led colours coming through in Christmas decorations. All of us are spending more time at home due to the pandemic, investing in making them a lovely place to be, and this is reinforced at Christmas time.

There is certainly some flamboyance in trends for this Christmas, and our Fire theme is a great example of this, with pink and red pampas grass decorations and the inclusion of floral accents,

We generally take forward all of our best-selling items, and we have some timeless pieces in our range that have sold well year after year since they

Visit www.floralsilk.co.uk, email: sales@floralsilk.co.uk or call: 01778 425205

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PROFILE BRAND PROFILE Festive Lights Konstsmide

Konstsmide take on the copyists in China As one of the major innovators in the festive lighting business, Konstsmide have decided to work even closer with the Chinese Patent Agency to tighten-up their designs in order to stop Chinese companies copying their new â&#x20AC;&#x153;own designâ&#x20AC;? products.

60 christmas in january 42

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With all the problems that Covid has brought to the world, Konstsmide took the decision not to show at any exhibitions in 2021, instead customers have been invited to their showroom and the company have also invested in a clever virtual camera that gives those customers preferring not to visit the opportunity of a virtual showroom tour.

R

ichard Jerrom - U.K. Managing Director told me, on my visit to their H.Q. in Holmewood near Chesterfield, that the company who were the first company to create transformers to be used for lighting products and the first with LED light strings, that it was time to stop the imitators.

Cheap, inferior copies purporting to be of the same quality as Konstsmide’s “own design “products have increasingly been flooding the U.K. market to the detriment of their sales and as a global company action needs to be taken.

Richard continued “As a result of these copies the Konstsmide Group will look closely at taking action in China to stop the culprits and also against any other companies copying these items.”

Of course, huge investment goes into product development even before an item is ready for market and by the time a new item is shown at the trade fairs it can be as little as a couple of months before a look-a-like product is available.

With all the problems that Covid has brought to the world, Konstsmide took the decision not to show at any exhibitions in 2021, instead customers have been invited to their showroom and the company have also invested in a clever virtual camera that gives those customers preferring not to visit the opportunity of a virtual showroom tour. They have also invested in a new state of the art air conditioning system that keeps the air in the showroom perfectly fresh and this along with all Covid requirements in place, ensures a safe visit to the showroom.

You would expect that Konstsmide might

have had a few problems getting their shipments from China during the pandemic, but Richard told me that due to the longstanding business relationships that they had enjoyed for many years with their Chinese factories, this had resulted in all orders being delivered to the U.K. with no shortages of stock.

The company are also able to maintain their current prices for 2021 orders.

New products for 2021

Outdoor lighting – With the success of small family groups such as their birds, squirrels and bears, some new items of a cat, a dog, foxes and pigs complement the existing collection.

Two new lanterns one large and one small that give the effect of a natural log fire have been added along with a large lantern depicting a Christmas scene. Very robust and definitely eye-catching.

New string lights feature both battery and app-controlled functions.

Indoor – Konstsmide’s collection of Christmas scenes has been added to with the addition of a Christmas train, a hot air balloon about to take off, a stunning large Christmas village plus an alpine Moose wooden lodge and two cute smaller models of a traditional British telephone box and also a post box.

Konstsmide’s Christmas water lanterns have long been a staple product of the range and this year sees a number of new additions including Big Ben, London bus, large helicopter and impressive big TV. Whilst most of these lanterns are bronze in colour,

Konstsmide have added a few curved lanterns in a white finish that complement the normal bronze finish.

Two new smaller ‘Dream Catcher’ additions have been added following the successful launch last year of the first ‘Dream Catcher’.

Hanging Stars have featured for a while now in a variety of colourways and designs. Added this year are two very modern designs that feature a circular LED lighting around the inner circle with eye-catching hangings finished in white and totally different to past Hanging Stars.

Konstsmide were the first company to introduce Welcome Lights to the U.K. many years ago. Over the years there have been many changes of design and 2021 is no exception.

Their laser-cut wooden models are yet another long-established collection available in a number of sizes. 2021 includes an Advent calendar plus several models in a white/grey finish that look quite stunning. A number of these models have dual functions.

Always in the forefront of technology, I was shown a totally new type of hanging bauble that features a Christmas movie within the bauble. This has to be seen to be believed.

The movie is around 30 seconds long with excellent animation and quality picture.

Quite Novel!

There will be two larger baubles and two small baubles. I can see these being hugely popular.

Kids will love these unique items.

Whilst the U.K. team are quite sad at not being able to show at Harrogate in 2021, they will most certainly be back in their familiar stand position in Hall ‘M’ for 2022.

christmas in january 43

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PROFILE Shatchi

We have it covered!

Malcolm Naish recently caught up with John McVey – Shatchi’s national sales manager, speaking from their new and recently opened showroom in Hitchin the company have invested heavily in this all singing and all dancing showroom which customers have enjoyed visiting since early December.

T

he company have been exhibiting at both Harrogate and Spring Fair for quite a number of years now and last year saw their greatly enlarged stand in Hall B at the Harrogate show attracting excellent business.

Now approaching their 12th year, Shatchi first began by importing toys and giftware products, soon expanding into Christmas.

The rapid growth of their Christmas business made M.D. Hiren Patel realise the potential this had to offer, although the toy and gift side is still very popular with the company supplying many toys to the garden centres for Christmas grottos.

Shatchi pride themselves on sourcing all of their ranges from ethical and environmentally aware producers in the various factories in China and India and employ their own Q.C. and sourcing staff in both countries.

As our headline states, Shatchi cover all of the major Christmas categories including

Trees Both pre-lit and non-lit in a wide variety of sizes styles and prices. These include fashion trees, tinsel and flocked designs. Fibre optic trees complete the tree range, again in a wide choice of sizes.

LED Lighting Plenty of variety to choose from both mains and battery-operated for both indoor and outdoor use with variable timers. LED String lights ranging from 100 up to 2000 LEDS in all the popular colours plus memory multi-function.

■ C onnectable Icicle lights from 240 LEDs to 1,928 offering customers total flexibility in option choice.

■ Shatchi Cluster lights available from 480LEDs up to 1,920 LEDs ■ Compact lights and LED battery lights complete the lighting collection.

■ A ll available in either clear or green cable.

■ Many of these lighting options can be App and remote controlled.

Room Décor Wreaths and Garlands both non-lit and pre-lit either plain or decorated LED Lanterns including swirling glitter lanterns plus many other mouth-watering decorative items.

Laser-cut wooden Christmas scenes and

44 christmas in january

placques plus themed tree trim and baubles.

To make any party complete Shatchi are into dressing-up in a big way with not only Santa outfits, but also Elves costumes and all the party accessories such as hats etc.

Outdoor Snowfall projectors plus LED reindeer and other animals complete the Shatchi range, so as we said earlier the company have plenty of product to offer in all of the major categories at prices to offer the very best of margins.

Tel: 01462 432 600 Email: john@shatchi.co.uk christmasinjanuary.co.uk

We are delighted to announce an even bigger range for Christmas 2021!!!

www.sgpuk.com For further information, please contact customerservice@sgpuk.com or +44 (0)1235 424100

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BRAND PROFILE Festive Lights

Matt Higginson, Sales Director Festive Lights

Connectable Lights in Nantwich Centre

Let There be Light!

In an unprecedented year for the retail sector when many businesses have struggled, digital market leaders Festive Lights offer a brightly lit Covid success story, as Sarah Welsh discovers…

I

t might be one of the biggest lighting brands around, and a major digital player, but first and foremost, Festive Lights is all about family.

Founded back in 1999, the company was started by Mark Higginson, who is still a 50/50 shareholder along with his wife Margaret.

Established and still located in the family’s home village of Charnock Richard, near Chorley, the couple’s children Matt, Martin, Mark Jr and Michelle, and Michelle’s husband, are also all involved in the business.

We caught up with Sales Director Matt, 37, to find out more about the fascinating story behind this most creative of Christmas lighting brands, and how the Festive Lights’ team managed to turn what could have been a terrible trading year into a runaway success…

Not many people know the story behind your hugely successful business, can you tell us more?

My dad Mark was originally a forester. One day his car was stolen, so he decided to invent a security device so that couldn’t happen again.

He developed the product and took it to market and everything happened from there.

Dad was sorting out new factories in the Far East to produce it, and started talking to a friend who had one in the Christmas lighting industry. He decided to import a container of lights for the millennium, and had a really

46 christmas in january

successful shop for that one season. At the time, there weren’t many options for purchasing festive lights, apart from the big department or electrical stores, and he saw a gap in the market. He was also in the right place at the right time, and launched in a year when people were really celebrating.

From there, he went into wholesale, and in the early 2000s launched the website. Dad simply has a great business brain – and he saw things that others didn’t.

When did you first become involved with Festive Lights?

learned transferable skills from that. If you put a lot into a business you’ll reap the rewards.

Like any family business you all get stuck into all areas at some point. I used to be the purchaser sourcing international products and importing them, I’ve also looked after the website and been involved with marketing. Now, having grown so much, we have a really good structure in place with specialists in each area.

“These days to survive in retail and B2B, you have to do digital really well… A top website is a shop face that reinvents itself every day.”

We’re a family business, and that’s really important to us. Myself and my siblings Mark Jr, Martin and Michelle, all have a passion to succeed and to be the best.

I started working in the shop in our home village as a 14-year-old at weekends. Our head office is still based here. I went to Loughborough University and got a degree in geography, PE and sports science, but came back into the business at 21, as I always knew I would.

I’ve always had a competitive edge. When I was younger I did a lot of BMX racing, and I

Festive Lights was very much ahead of the curve when it came to building a strong digital brand – how did this come about?

In the early years of the business the wholesale industry for lighting was bigger. We saw customers’ buying habits, and they were stuck in their ways, only wanting to go to the big guys. We felt we wouldn’t get anywhere trying to compete with them, so we looked at other avenues and

went virtual.

These days to survive in retail and B2B, you have to do digital really well. I’ve seen other businesses try to replicate it, and their websites can look ok on the surface, but they don’t understand the mechanics of it. You need to invest and re-invest in a good digital operation,

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“We sell to anyone from hotels to electrical firms, installation teams to designers – and of course to garden centres, for festive displays.”

Connectable Lights courtesy of Dreamwave Events Centre Square, Middlesbrough

Broadway Shopping Centre, Middlesbrough

and have your finger on the pulse. Technology changes monthly it seems, and there’s always a new platform. Our primary aim is always to be the number one search term on Google. A top website is a shop face that reinvents itself every day.

What impact did the unprecedented events last year with Covid-19 have on the Festive Lights operation?

2020 ended up being a good year overall, but back in March we couldn’t have predicted that. We have 55 full time staff across our two sites, but initially furloughed about 20 people.

We cut everything back as we saw an initial drop off in sales. But then, as we went into lockdown, we started to see domestic retail sales ramp back up, until we were above a normal year’s forecast and we had to bring everyone back from furlough.

What we did see of course was a complete drop off in our business-to-business sales, as the hospitality and events sectors shut down.

Weddings were cancelled, and no one needed fairly lights for marquees or festivals. But fortunately, a growth in garden domestic sales combatted this drop off and we have seen our direct-to-consumer sales continue to grow as well. Business to business sales picked up from early October. We picked up on enquiries that had gone cold in February 2020 and found that people were enthused about pushing ahead for last Christmas.

How have your business-to-business sales grown in recent months?

They’re probably different to most festive and lighting firms, in terms of their breadth and range. We sell to anyone from hotels to electrical firms, installation teams to designers – and of course to garden centres, for festive

displays. In November, our B2B sales were 20% above what we’d forecast, and we saw a sharp recovery. When the second national lockdown finished last year, businesses wanted to put lights up for re-opening.

Do you think Covid-19 also impacted last year’s consumer sales in the runup to Christmas?

We definitely had the sense that people were buying early for Christmas. Our sales were about two weeks ahead of what we normally see, and people wanted to put their lights up early. It was nice to have something to look forward to after a tough year, to get their families involved and light up the local community.

How important is the garden centre sector to Festive Lights?

Hugely so. Garden centres are getting so big now that they almost demand the same level of product base as shopping centres. Centres are in real competition to have the best stock and best displays.

Within retail it’s all about creating a customer experience now, and budgets are going up to achieve this. Many centres now have a cone Christmas tree outside with all singing and dancing lights, and customers want to achieve the same effect at home.

Ridings Shopping Centre, Wakefield

Do you ‘go big’ with your own Christmas lights Matt?!

I made a special effort Christmas just gone because we’d recently moved house.

We had a lovely tree wrapped in lights outside the front and it got some nice comments from the school run! Being honest though I generally leave that side of things to my wife Sam, as the lighting situation obviously goes crackers at work!

Our girls Freya and Amelie, who are aged three and four, love Christmas lights.

Looking back on 2020, and ahead to this year, what are your thoughts?

Last year our year-on-year sales were bigger than expected, which surprised us but we were thankful of being in a position where Festive Lights had enough stock and was able to react quickly to customer demand.

It was also great to see our team pulling together in what was a tough few months.

There are always going to be winners and losers in retail. Watch the news and it always presents a gloomy picture, they never pick out the companies who have done well, but we’re a real Covid success story. I think 2021 will be our biggest year yet because we’re opening our new showroom and that’s going to be a game changer. From small shops to theme parks, everyone wants a piece of our lighting action.

christmas in january 47

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PROFILE Heyland and Whittle

Eco Collection Reed diffusers & candles An eco-collection of fragrant, hand-poured and blended soy candles and reed diffusers, housed in 100% recycled glass and packaged in 100% recycled card. This eco-collection helps customers to make more eco-friendly lifestyle choices in the home. This new eco collection takes their commitment as a business to care for the planet one big step further. For the first time, they have created a collection of hand-poured candles and reed diffusers that are contained in 100% recycled glass and packaged in 100% recycled card. The diffuser and candle vessels can be re-purposed again and again – as drinks glasses, hot beverage glasses, flower vases, biscuit and snack bowls, water and juice jugs and flower vases.

The fragrant hand-poured candles are made with a sustainable soy wax and essential oil blend for a clean, slow, even burn. There are three new fragrances in this collection, available as both diffuser and candle options. Geranium & Oud Fresh and rich Green, peppery Geranium blended with sweet, smoky Oud and fragrant hints of Rose, Jasmine and Praline – an opulent aroma reminiscent of the East Mint & Bergamot Uplifting and refreshing Fresh, cool Mint blended with zesty, citrussy Bergamot –the ‘just picked’ aroma of Summer. Hibiscus & White Tea Calming and relaxing Woody citrus notes of White Tea blended with gentle florals

Hibiscus, Freesia and Jasmine - a gentle aroma with feel-good benefits.

100 % Eco-Friendly Soap Collection

These six fragrant, 100% natural, handmade soaps boxed in recycled card make it easier for customers to make more eco-friendly lifestyle choices to care for both planet and family. This new collection of Palm Oil-free soaps promises a better tomorrow for the planet.

Heyland & Whittle are well practised in the artisan production of handmade, 100% natural soaps. They follow the cold processed method using only 100% natural, pure ingredients, including essential oils, herbs, spices and natural colourings such as Madder Root and Turmeric. For this collection, Heyland & Whittle have chosen not to use Palm Oil in the production and have boxed the soaps in 100% recycled card- which is itself recyclable. These eco-conscious production choices make it easier for the customers to make positive eco-friendly lifestyle choices. All the soaps are paraben and sulphate free and not tested on animals. The six glorious fragrances choices are: Tea Tree Naturally cleansing and invigorating – Nature’s antiseptic is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-microbial to help clear troubled skin Vintage Rose Gloriously fragrant – enriched

“The fragrant hand-poured candles are made with a sustainable soy wax and essential oil blend for a clean, slow, even burn.”

48 christmas in january

with Cocoa Butter to gently soothe and moisturise. A real treat for all skin types Citrus & Turmeric Refreshingly zingy – Olive, Coconut and Citrus Oils promise an energetic wake-up call. Beneficial for normal to oily skins Hemp & Walnut Moisturising and healing - with Hemp Oil and Walnut Leaves for the finest bathing and shaving experience Patchouli & Goats Milk Seriously indulgent - a luxuriously citrus blend of Goats Milk, Cocoa Butter and essential oils to help soothe and moisturise dry skin types English Lavender Relaxing and calming – with feel-good Lavender Oil for a soothing end of the day soak, perfect for sleepy heads.’

Contact: 01293 525825, Email: sales@heylandandwhittle.co.uk, visit: www.heylandandwhittle.co.uk

christmasinjanuary.co.uk

It’s new!

A glimpse of some of Gisela Graham’s 1500 new products for Christmas 2021

ÎĮåƖ΄ƶijʼnʼn΄ƼŜƞƂ΄āƞƊƖŜőĎƂƊ΄ĀĎ ʼnŜŜņijœħ΄ĦŜƂ΄œĎƻƖ΄ ĮƂijƊƖőåƊ΄ƊĎåƊŜœ͠ kĎƶ΄ijĈĎåƊ͜΄΄ œĈ΄ƖĮåƖͽƊ΄ƶĮåƖ΄BijƊĎʼnå΄BƂåĮåő΄āåœ΄ħijƵĎ΄ƼŜƞ͙΄åƖ΄ʼnĎåƊƖ΄̆̊̅​̅΄œĎƶ΄ſƂŜĈƞāƖƊ΄ĦŜƂ΄̇̅̇̆͟΄ ÎĎ΄ĈijĈœͽƖ΄ʼnĎƖ΄ƖĮĎ΄ƵijƂƞƊ΄ƊƖŜſ΄ƞƊ΄ĀƞƖ΄āåƂƂijĎĈ΄Ŝœ΄ĈĎƊijħœijœħ΄ƖĮƂŜƞħĮ΄̇̅̇̅͟΄¯ĮĎ΄ƂĎƊƞʼnƖ͙΄ǙĦƖĎĎœ ƖĮĎőĎĈ΄āŜʼnʼnĎāƖijŜœƊ΄Ɗſ圜ijœħ΄å΄ĀƂŜåĈ΄΄ƊſĎāƖƂƞő΄ŜĦ΄ĀƂijʼnʼnijåœƖ΄œĎƶ΄ijĈĎåƊ΄ĦŜƂ΄œĎƻƖ΄ƼĎåƂ͟΄ ¢ĎĎ΄ƖĮĎő΄ijœ΄åʼnʼn΄ƖĮĎijƂ΄ħʼnŜƂƼ΄ĀƼ΄åſſŜijœƖőĎœƖ΄åƖ΄ŜƞƂ΄aŜœĈŜœ΄ƊĮŜƶƂŜŜő͙΄ŜſĎœ΄ĦƂŜő΄̆΄$ĎāĎőĀĎƂ΄̇̅̇̅͟

BijƊĎʼnå΄BƂåĮåő΄aijőijƖĎĈ ̆̇΄ ŜʼnƶŜƂƖĮ΄BƂŜƵĎ͚΄aŜœĈŜœ͚΄¢*̆̌΄̆a ̅̇̅Ͳ̌​̌̅̍΄̉̎̊̋ ƊåʼnĎƊοħijƊĎʼnåħƂåĮåő͟āŜ͟ƞņ

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J i

PROFILE Lesser & Pavey

Cheeky Red Robin of Christmas 2021 Lesser & Pavey have an impressive collection of Christmasbased ranges to whet the appetites and order books of their many customers and they are delighted to introduce the new Jennifer Rose Winter Forest and Winter Robin designs that form part of the Lesser and Pavey 2021 Christmas range.

T

hese hand painted festive illustrations capture the essence of nature and winter scenes featuring wildlife associated with Christmas such as the Red Robin surrounded by red berries, cones and holly.

Jennifer Rose is a Sussex based illustrator that has been designing for Lesser and Pavey for many years creating such innovative, inspiring, wonderful ranges throughout the year.

Her hand painted illustrations are carefully

50 christmas in january

transformed into household ranges that include fine china; Melamine tabletop items, lap trays; kitchenware such as glass surface protectors, salt and pepper. Fine china mugs come in gift sets with coasters and all chinaware if beautifully gift boxed.

The range extends to paper gift bags, both large and small, sets of two and candle plates.

Tel 01322 279225 sales@leonardo.co.uk www.leonardo.co.uk

christmasinjanuary.co.uk

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PROFILE BRAND PROFILE Jingles Festive Lights

Jjingles - All The Way This was our banner heading last year for this fast-growing Christmas and Seasonal supplier based in the rolling hills of County Down, Northern Ireland and I make no excuse to use this heading once more.

T

he driving force behind Jingles is Iain Mercer, who celebrates his 30th year in the business. With Covid 19 somewhat reducing my opportunity to visit Iain this year I posed a number of questions to ask how Jingles were coping with all the problems that 2020 threw up.

M.N. You are celebrating 30 years in the Christmas business. What would you say have been the main changes during these last 30 years?

IM. In many respects, very little has changed,

a lot of the faces have endured albeit like yourself and myself, a little more wrinkled!

Obviously, the volume of customers has diminished due to buy-outs and takeovers however this leads to new opportunities. The main differences are that the industry has become a lot more professional which is a good thing and as a supplier we are constantly thinking how we can best serve our customers to sell our product ahead of our competitors, through a programme of product videos and points of sale. The industry remains one of the nicest (a word I hate!) industries to be associated with.

M.N. Would you say that being firmly embedded in the Christmas business that some of the changes that have occurred during the last 30 years were 52 christmas in january

spotted by you and your team well in advance, enabling you to benefit from some of these product breakthroughs?

IM. At Jingles, we pride ourselves on the development of Christmas product, especially in the areas of lighting and digital.

There have been many changes in the industry over the past 30 years, especially around the number of companies who offer a complete Christmas service. Customer service has always been at the heart of our business and it is this that has given us our longevity more than anything.

manufacture plush Christmas figures for us switched their full production to making PPE. At Jingles, we always carry stock in season which was invaluable this year as there seemed to be a general shortage of Christmas product

M.N. I know that U.K. and European suppliers were unable to visit China to create their new producs for 2021,.

Were you able to get over this problem without too much difficulty?

“At Jingles, we pride ourselves on the development of Christmas product, especially in the areas of lighting and digital”

M.N. Despite Covid 19 affecting China before it swept across the rest of the world, I’m told that China’s manufacturing base very quickly returned to normal manufacturing. Was this the case with your suppliers?

IM. Yes, thankfully, we were able to supply

all our product on time this year because we had all orders placed with factories in February before the full impact of Covid 19 hit China. We had one factory who normally

IM. In many ways it has been a more relaxed year without the frantic Far East travel and multiple trade shows. Our team would normally go out to the Far East 4 to 5 times a year working with our factory partners in the development of Jingles Christmas products anything up to 3 years in advance. We have been fortunate that over 70% of our 2021 range had already been selected and sampled by spring 2020 to enable us to have a totally fresh offering for 2021

M.N. Did the fact that Garden Centres managed to avoid closure apart from the early months of the year help build your 2020 sales?

IM. Yes, you will probably be aware that our company has a stong garden furniture division christmasinjanuary.co.uk

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PROFILE BRAND PROFILE Jingles Festive Lights

specializing in own branded Furniture. This allowed us to see that our customers quickly picked up their losses during lockdown which resulted in a renewed confidence that Christmas would indeed be strong. This lead us to order additional trees and lights to support our customers with the extra stock they required later in the season.

produced a virtual version of our showrooms which is available to view on our website (password:icicle). A tagged version is available with specifications and prices (password available on request) You can view the showrooms either by the play tour icon or navigate using your mouse/cursor or if you have a VR headset, it will be like being there.

M.N. It isn’t only in Ireland that Jingles have seen great growth over the last few years, have you seen a similar pattern in mainland U.K.?

IM. Over the last few years we have seen

M.N. I have been told that you now have a mobile showroom – is this correct?

IM. Yes, that is correct, in September I

exponencial growth coming from the UK mainland. We now boast 8 sales representitives in England, Scotland and Wales including the two in Ireland covering all parts of Great Britan and Ireland. As customers realise that we offer a full range of high quality Christmas at very competitive prices, and when they experience our customer services we see customer order grow year on year.

M.N. Were you able to invite customers into your showroom in December as you have normaly done? How else can customers see your product range?

IM. Our showrooms were complete at the end of November as usual and we have had several customers visit us adhering to our strict Covid 19 procedures. We have

54 christmas in january

purchased a double Decker Bus in view to converting it to a mobile Christmas showroom.

It is now complete and we can exhibit our comprehensive range of unique Jingles lighting, all in new packaging for 2021, as well as our range of artificial trees and decorated themes. We also have a mini Cinema where we can demonstrate our virtual showrooms and website on a 65” novo-touch flat screen display.

M.N. How were your ‘Diamond Cut’ series of lights received by your customers, as I know you put a large amount of effort into creating the range?

IM. The Diamond Cut series has been a success story for us due to the high quality of this range when compared with normal Led bulbs, which we also offer.

M.N. What new colour themes can we look forward to for 2021 and do you find that the traditional colours of red, gold and silver are still very popular?

IM. Once again, our buying team headed up

by Elise have excelled this year, bringing to life 10 brand new themes which can all be viewed on our website and can be seen on our Mobile Christmas Showbus. Traditional colours are always a safe bet, but I especially like they way we have incorporated a Dinasaur and space theme around traditional baubles – this keeps traditional fresh.

M.N. Do you believe that the lack of exhibitions in 2021 will create problems in showing your customers the 2021 ranges?

IM. It will definitely be a challenge for everyone this year, however, It is probably more important than ever that customers offer new, exciting products and not just the same as 2020, therefore it will be a lot more difficult without exhibitions. I believe that we at Jingles are best placed to offer customers a fresh approach to Christmas with our virtual showrooms and Mobile Christmas Showbus which will call in every area in Scotland, England and Wales throughout January, February and March – dates and details will all be posted and updated on our website.

christmasinjanuary.co.uk

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