Christmas in July, at Pret

To keep abreast with what the various London stores are doing in terms of Visual Merchandising, I always ensure that I have regular walks around the main shopping areas of London: Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly, Knightsbridge, Sloane Square, and the Kings Road.

I was quite staggered when I exited Oxford Street tube station one Saturday afternoon to find fully dressed Christmas garlands around the doorways to every Pret a Manger.

Its ever-popular Christmas sandwich was back in store for to hail this marketing campaign in July, even though the festive season was several months away. It was felt that people had missed them last December due to the Covid Pandemic and the subsequent UK lockdown.

“Every year customers ask us for the Christmas sandwich to return earlier and earlier, and after many customers missed out on having one last year, we’ve decided to stand by our mission of spreading joy through our food and coffee and bring our iconic Christmas sandwich back early for a limited time this summer,” said Clare Clough, the chain’s UK managing director.

Pret has also said that 50p from the sale of each Christmas sandwich would be donated to its charitable foundation, which works to combat poverty, hunger, and homelessness. The hearty club – which contains turkey with a port and orange cranberry sauce, plus herby pork stuffing, baby spinach, mayo, and crispy onion – is available until early August.

There were definitely mixed opinions about this Marketing campaign. Customers had slammed Pret as disrespectful and unprofessional by releasing their range of Christmas sandwiches during the summer, while some customers were threatening to boycott the Brand.

As I write this article in mid-August, there will be mixture of comments from the public as regards Christmas Shops being launched at several of the major stores in London later this month. There is always a bit of rivalry between Harrods and Selfridges to see who can launch their Christmas Shop first. Both stores always launch a ‘soft Christmas’ to tempt and educate the customer with full Christmas shops opening in late September/early October. At Selfridges the Christmas shop is usually sited on the 4th Floor while at Harrods, their ‘soft launch Christmas’ is located in The Harrods Shop on the Lower Ground Floor.

From the various key stakeholders in retail that I have spoken to, everyone feels that business will be brisk with the run up to Christmas. Many families in the UK could not spend Christmas together in 2020 due to the covid pandemic so it is felt that this Christmas will be ‘bumper Christmas’ for retail. The general consensus is that retail will vastly improve in Spring 2022.

So, while Christmas concepts have been designed, ready for installation at the end of October/ early November, many retailers will now planning Valentines and Spring. It will soon be time to visit Christmas World in Frankfurt to gather ideas and source new inspiration for Christmas 2022.

Iain Kimmins FBDS