16-17_David Robertson.qxp_Grid 01/12/2024 14:21 Page 1
OVER THE
COUNTER
BY DAVID ROBERTSON OF JP POZZI, ELGIN AND BUCKIE.
The Golden Quarter is well underway and many small retailers are hoping that sales from now until Santa arrives will see us through what are expected to be the long, difficult months of January and February. The full effects of the latest Budget have not been felt as yet, but they hang in the air over us with both increases in NI and wages looming, but right now we are surrounded by Christmas products, sparkling lights and a feeling that many of the trends of previous years will come true.
Deliveries have been late, charity and boxed Christmas cards are a hard sell, postage is killing us, the spend on gifts is more modest and as I write this people have not quite reached the F*C% IT stage where they throw caution to the wind and buy what they like to enjoy the festive period. However, when I look at our stores right now, the immediate word that comes to mind is pride. Now that may sound arrogant, but I really like our mix of products, including the quirky different things we have bought in as well as the displays in our stores. I have visited Selfridges, Liberty and lots of other stores in big cities to check out their Christmas offer and while their displays are large, I didn’t see anything that excitingly different or, which is not the case in our and many other indies’ stores. Our Christmas card selection this year encompasses both tried and tested publishers as well as some that are new to us, such as Alljoy Design. Sitting alongside the cards are gifting lines from companies, large and small and we go to town as to how we display them. And for good reason. This Golden Quarter can account for as much as a third of companies’ sales and up to half of the annual profits of retailers of discretionary products, which includes jewellery, toys and gifts. The British Retail 16 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Consortium goes on to say that around a third of consumers plan to take advantage of Black Friday. Personally, BF doesn’t do it for me. Neither does the souless sugar rush of shopping online. I like to go and visit a store, be spoken to, and thankfully so do our customers. This year, as with last, our emphasis is still on cards and gifting, but we also incorporate decorated trees so that our shops feel festive without being over burdened with pure Christmas ornaments. It is always a worry at this stage though as we wait to see if the sales stack up in the final
Above: A display of mainly Talking Tables products in one of David’s shops. Above right: Just a small part of David’s Christmas card display.
few weeks. As one big retailer said to me recently, “December is crucial as it makes or breaks the year”. So how do we entice the customer to spend their hard-earned pennies with us? As smaller retailers our marketing encompasses many elements, from fun evenings to silly social media posts. By contrast the big supermarkets and other multiples, such as John Lewis create their much awaited Christmas adverts. The ads have become a big part of the Christmas Countdown and as a sucker for all things pop culture, I enjoy watching them all. This year emotion, humour and the physical act of actually visiting a store all feature. Both the Tesco and John Lewis adverts aim straight for the heart with ads that show families missing those around the table. The strong sense of sentiment is being reflected in our stores’ sales. We have seen the continual shift to specialist Christmas cards with more time and money being placed on getting the right message for family and close friends. By the third week in November we had sold out of some specific titles and were running low on others. Words and sentiments and letting people know that you love them and are thinking about them is nothing new, but it is still deemed important.