With the Christmas countdown now underway, PG Buzz talks to leading retailers about their hunches for this year’s festive run up trade wise, what approach they are taking, buying patterns they have clocked and the supply issues they have experienced thus far.
Here it is the turn of Pam Ness, co-owner of Bearing Gifts in Troon and Carl Dunne, co-owner of Cards & Gifts Sheffield and Dronfield who share their views.
First up, it’s Pam Ness, co-owner of Bearing Gifts in Troon…
How is Christmas trade shaping up so far for you?
“So far so good. We are about 10 days ahead of schedule on our Christmas displays, due to customer requests. We normally would not put our Christmas windows and displays out until mid-November.
Our town as a whole has been very busy. We are lucky to have lots of independent shops and find people are travelling to Troon as a destination shopping experience. Hopefully the trend of shopping small and local will continue. We are a seaside town and the weather has been kind to us which makes it a nice place to visit for the day.”
What have the buying patterns been like?
“Customers are definitely getting organised early. “Just in case” seems to be a commonly used phrase was to why people are buying early.”
Have you suffered supply issues?
“Thankfully the only supply problems we have had are delays with deliveries of our Steiff bears. They are taking much longer than usual to arrive from Germany.”
Now over to Carl Dunne, co-owner of Cards & Gifts Sheffield and Dronfield…
How is Christmas trade shaping up so far for you?
“Having been out in shopping centres the last few weekends, following media warnings about shortages of toys etc. I think there’s already a buying frenzy with people worried about supplies. It looks like customers aren’t even wanting to risk waiting for online purchases to arrive and so are pushing themselves out into the high street to make sure they get what they want now.”
“We put all our Christmas stock out at the start of September and have been seeing strong seasonal sales. Stock is moving a little faster than usual right now, but I wonder whether this is just a blip because of media hysteria.
Anyway, I’m watching everything as it leaves my shelves with a smile on my face and my hand happily on the till!”
Have you suffered supply issues?
“Supply issues have not been a major problem for us as a whole, as we buy from a wide spectrum of publishers. Having UKG, ICG, Cherry Orchard, Noel Tatt, Paper Salad, Nigel Quiney, Dean Morris, Second Nature, Carte Blanche, Words ‘n’ Wishes, we’re well covered!
Some supply houses have warned of and suffered delays, whereas others forecast issues and got ahead so we’ve had reasonable stocks to be able to continue to offer a good selection to customers despite the delivery upheaval.
In the end it will be the publishers that suffer as if they deliver late, ultimately it may simply result in higher returns. Like others, we insist on 100% sale or return on seasonal goods, especially important if they’ve delivered late.”
Top: Part of the Christmas card display in Cards & Gifts, Sheffield.
