With Father’s Day a few weeks away still, sales for most retailers have started to pick up pace, but for most retailers the final few days will be frantic, and although for most it is not on the same level as Mother’s Day, sales are still good for the last of the Spring Seasons.
“Father’s Day has been pretty good for us the last couple of years,” says Nik Gornall, owner of three Romantica stores in Bristol, “But as with most retailers we probably won’t see many sales until June and most will be in the last few days leading up to 17 June.”
At John Lewis, Father’s Day has been building slowly, and Lizzie Batchelar, assistant buyer for giftwrap, cards and seasonal events expects a last minute surge. “We have our Father’s Day Pop Up Shop launching on the 3 June, so we expect to see an uplift when this goes live. Belly Button’s cards have performed well for us so far, with its best seller to date being the ‘Dad in a Million’ design. Susan O’Hanlon has been trading well, with the best seller from her being the ‘Dog in Glasses’ card. One of our best sellers within the humour category is one from Emotional Rescue poking fun at the not-so tech savvy dads out there!”
Claire Jarvis and Nicky Stephenson, owners of The Tutbury Present Company in Staffordshire have had their Father’s Day offering out since Easter. “Sales have started to trickle in, but we think most people will shop in June when they remember ‘Oh yeah, it’s Father’s Day this month!’ Early sellers this year include the ‘Daddy’ captioned cards and some of the high-end hand-finished designs. We pretty much sold out last year, so we have extended our offering this year. We also have more ‘Grandad’ titles, which like Grandma on Mother’s Day, seems to be getting very popular.”
For Jane Hall, buyer at Snape Maltings in Suffolk, it is all about giving the customer a nudge at the right time. She told PG Buzz: “We have done a few Father’s Day-appropriate but non-specific gifts in a prominent spot over recent weeks, and only put the overtly Father’s Day cards out in the middle of May. This seems to sit better with our shopper, who doesn’t like rampant commercialism. Thought is everything when it comes to sending a card, and we aim to have a thoughtful selection. Our Easter cards did particularly well this year, and we are hoping to see the same with our selection for Father’s Day, graduation, teachers’ thank you cards and good luck with exams – which are just beginning to kick in.”
