Heidi Early’s optimistic as Earlybird catches the festive worm
Getting a decent festive run-up is the best present Father Christmas can deliver for indie retailers as it’s the most important time of year for the greetings industry.
And they pull out all the stops to make it special for customers while ensuring the importance of sending Christmas cards is fully highlighted.
Having checked in with some members of The Cardmitments WhatApp indie retail group to discover how they think this golden quarter is going, here’s Heidi Early, of Earlybird in Stoke Newington, revealing all – and her reel below shows how social media helps with publicising products like Roger La Borde’s Pop & Slot advent calendars.
Christmas hunch: “I feel quite optimistic about Christmas. Every other occasion this year has traded up compared to 2023, so I think that’s a good sign. And starting the #Cardmitment festive activity on 1 November I feel like we’re got a head start on our marketing. It’s great to have the camaraderie with other retailers too when it can be quite a stressful time.
“We’ve organised our local business association community festive event for 30 November so that gives us a full four weekends of festive trading before Christmas, plus a few extra days, which can make a big difference.”
Playing your cards: “I think the trend for a higher spend on single Christmas cards will continue – and funny Christmas cards always sell out the fastest for us. We still do very well with Christmas charity packs, but are finding that the ones we publish in-house for local charities are definitely the most popular.
“We’ve been drip-feeding our single Christmas cards out as we had a few customers requesting them at the beginning of October, the earliest we’ve ever had. We bring Christmas stock out gradually otherwise a lot of customers get grumpy about it, but all our packs are put out in the last two weeks of October.
“Our Christmas window went live at the beginning of November, and this year’s is definitely a nod to the Cardmitment campaign.
“We bought a bulk load of first-class stamps before the price rise so we’re keeping the old price for customers for as long as our stocks last, but we’ll really be promoting second class for as long as possible.
“We’re holding a Sarah Laker-inspired Write Before Christmas event in November for our mailing list customers. We did one just with staff last year and it was such fun that we wanted to extend it this year.”
Dear Santa: “My wish to Father Christmas would be that every person who can write in the UK sends a Christmas card this year. If everyone wrote just one Christmas card, can you imagine the impact that would have? For me, that’s what Christmas card writing and sending is about. No one should feel like it’s a chore, just send one to someone, it will make a difference, it will make them smile.”
These views appear in the November issue of Progressive Greetings which can be read online, and any indie retailer who wants to join the Cardmitments WhatsApp group should email Heidi Early heidi@earlybirddesigns.co.uk.
