RETAIL ADVICE
WITH HENRI DAVIS
Spring into 2020 Spring might still be a couple of months away, but here Henri Davis looks at what the season brings in terms of brings in terms of colour, events and new ideas.
G
et ready for the sunshine and warmer weather - we all need some ideas for the coming season. I love spring with brighter days and green shoots, it always gives me the feeling of a fresh start. I find months of dark mornings and evenings and the ● James Ellis intense focus on Christmas trading quite draining so the arrival of February means we have got to the other side and it is full steam ahead! Spring seasons are really important for card retailers with Valentine’s, Mother’s Day and Easter delivering £180million in 2018 according to the GCA Annual Report and, while the values are significantly lower than Christmas, they give retailers a great chance to refresh their ranges and displays. It is important for our shops to look interesting so this is a good opportunity to move all our stock around, pull out everyday items that can fit into the spring themes and then add in the new special lines you have bought for the occasions. But, of course, it really starts on December 27, as soon as Christmas is over retailers move straight into the sale season. When I was at Next, we put the sale
● Bexy Boo
out straight after trading ended on Christmas Eve ready to opene on Boxing Day. Regardless, it’s a great opportunity to clear unsold items that you want to turn into cash to fund your new ranges and of course you need to check through your stockroom to make space for the new ranges too. Valentine’s Day brings a big splash of bold colour and, if it’s right for your customers, it’s a great reason to splash out and dress your shops with balloons and banners and have a bit of ● Poet And Painter fun with some cheeky love-based humour too. There are some fabulous Valentine’s cards around this year with something to appeal to everyone from the soppy and romantic to the slightly less serious like this from Poet And Painter. Depending on the date for Mother’s Day it is quite likely that your Valentine’s display will come down and ● Emma Bryan you will go straight into this big event. The changeover will always be hard work, particularly when you’re using everyday lines to supplement and complement your special seasonal buys but, with good planning, it can be a fantastic opportunity to work through all of your product and check there’s nothing on your shop floor that should be cleared out and refreshed. Mother’s Day will always be a much softer season than Valentine’s with prettier colours and feminine imagery, but mums cover a huge age range and the pictures and messages vary accordingly so they are relevant to the recipient, as with Emma Bryan’s design. It’s a great opportunity to say thank you to the mother in your family and there will often be a card from the cat and dog too. Papagrazi and James Ellis show the sheer variety around. Easter is a religious festival for some but because children are on holiday from school it is a great excuse to get outdoors with egg hunts, picnics and even the first barbecue of the year.
Henri Davis is an independent retail advisor to businesses in the cards, gifts, stationery and heritage industries, with 35 years of retail experience. She has worked for Habitat, Next, WHSmith and the National Trust and now advises small and medium-sized businesses, including retailers, visitor attractions, manufacturers and suppliers. She is the first retailer deputy chairman of the Giftware Association and the recipient of this year’s Greats Honorary Achievement Award. For more information visit www.henridavis.co.uk.
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As a retailer it is a great excuse to brighten up your displays with those lovely yellows, greens and pinks of spring., as illustrated by Bexy Boo’s Easter greeting. With no shortage of great designs available for spring, I was interested to understand from a printer how things have changed for them, so I spoke to Michelle Mills at Windles. They have seen an increase in publishers and designers using alternative techniques, such as cold foil and emboss, or fluted hot foil, to create embellishments which might have been previously done in China by affixing gems. Windles has also seen more take up of their simulated flitter, die-cutting and 3D-style cards with pop outs all of which add interest to the finished design but the most significant change has been the move to naked cards and the adoption of their Kard Klasp seal system which has significantly reduced their use of plastic. The best news of all is that more cards are now being manufactured in the UK which would previously have been printed overseas, and this is significantly reducing the products’ carbon footprint which is a positive move. This year Easter is on April 12, so the weather can’t be guaranteed but, being an optimist, I would like to think it will be sunny. I can’t wait for spring to arrive as sunny yellow daffodils always make me smile.
● Papagrazi
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