Get your orders in while you can

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Get Your Orders In While You Can

I recently visited Premier Decoration’s Managing Director John Athwal at his head office near London for an update on how Premier has coped with the last 12 months and his take on business moving forward into 2022.

It has been one of the strangest and most challenging years we have ever experienced.” John began. “No exhibitions taking place in 2021 due to restrictions on large gatherings put huge pressure on the entire Christmas industry. Trade shows were normally the time when some orders would have been negotiated, so our showrooms became more important than ever.”

Premier had the foresight to be ahead of the game and establish their showrooms much earlier than in previous years in both Northern and Southern UK locations. This offered visitors not only early access, but also created a welcoming and safe environment that customers fully appreciated and felt reassured operating within.

Orders subsequently came flooding in. Luckily, Premier had been forewarned by their far eastern offices that factories would be severely underresourced in both labour terms and also in component parts. It didn’t take a genius to work out that this was going to affect the entire global supply chain.

John and his team sprung into action and placed their purchase orders very early. However, the shortage of I.C. chips, that affected the supply of transformers for electrical items as well as other component parts, soon began to affect production. All industries relying on products and components from China were severely hit and at least one major car company had to close an entire plant due to the issue.

Not only was industry hit with shortages, but every supplier from raw material providers all the way up to manufacturing was demanding up-front payments before delivery of goods. Whilst Premier was unable to invoice before delivering to their customer base, they were indeed able to keep supply moving by paying such costs in advance. The suppliers grateful to Premier for their assistance in cash flow, responded by keeping Premiers’ production lines open.

Manufacturing at the beginning of 2021 was fast-paced. As the year progressed, Chinese manufacturers were continually hampered by increase upon increase in the cost of raw materials. Yet again, this problem was passed onto importers and the Premier team were able to react accordingly. The only message was that supply was more important than other factors.

The next challenge faced was the unavailability of space on vessels and the resulting mammoth price increases within the shipping industry. In some instances these costs were up to ten times higher than a year ago. Despite these price hikes there was still a constant shortage of containers. However, Premier’s resources managed to secure not only the supply of the goods, but also the containers even if some deliveries were just a little later than planned.

No one was able to forecast just how badly the shipping lines slowed down on the high seas and how affected ports such as Felixstow became. Instead of accepting vessels, port authorities were forcing them to continue on to other European destinations where once unloaded, goods had to then be placed onto trucks for delivery to the U.K.

So how does this affect future plans moving in to Christmas 2022?

John Athwal believes that many of the same problems will still exist. Premier however are well prepared with orders already being placed from customer visits to their wonderful showrooms which have been open since December 1st 2021. This has enabled the company to place

“My advice is to visit either of the Premier showrooms as soon as possible to ensure you are wowed with the new offerings for 2022”

their own forward orders already with their suppliers.

Manufacturers in China are being forced by their Government to work just 3 or 4 days a week due to energy shortages. This will place even more pressure on importers and the entire industry has to emphasize to their customers to place orders earlier than ever before.

Harrogate Christmas & Gift Fair presents an ideal opportunity for visitors to do just that – GET YOUR ORDERS IN WHILE YOU CAN!

My advice is to visit either of the Premier showrooms as soon as possible to ensure you are wowed with the new offerings for 2022. For the past few years we have seen John and his team introduce innovations to market that have been extremely exciting such as their great selling rainbow colourway and the brilliant Norbert and friends. This year, Premier presents 7 brand new themes for 2022, and over 50% new decorative products. The company appreciates that customers wish to create their own looks and styles for a point of difference in todays’ competitive marketplace and early customer feedback has been extremely positive.

Whilst still maintaining strong value led offers, Premier has significantly added to their design-led decorative range across the various product categories available. Great designs and great value are at the heart of 2022 offers. Seasonal floral stems were winners last season and whilst this category has been expanded, Christmas Stockings, Sacks and Tree Skirts feature many new styles for the coming season, not to mention hundreds of new plush and tabletop items to adorn the home.

Tree sales have been fantastic with Premier leading the way. Proven products such as the New Jersey Spruce or the Silver Tipped Fir, as well as the new and hugely popular Nordmann Fir are performing extremely well at retail level. The range is under continual development and the New Jersey now includes a new arch and fibre optic tree added to the collection.

As I have alluded to in this article already, freight costs in 2022 will be a challenge. Premier have done much to try to negate these costs already and are continuing their thought process in order to offer the best value possible. Fibre optic trees for example have been reworked, creating smaller box sizes which makes shipping less expensive and simultaneously making the product easier to store and cheaper to send through courier services. Each box size has been carefully considered to ensure that customers are getting the most out of container loadings without compromising the product inside or the reusability of the box after Christmas.

Sustainability is another key focus for the business and a brand new collection for 2022 comprises of mango wood products, stunning recycled glass, and seasonal linens produced totally from recycled plastic. Premier takes its responsibility to protecting our planet seriously and will continue to source more and more ethical products whilst continuing to reduce the amount of materials that are harmful to the environment in their packaging.

All in all… there is an abundance of fresh new product to whet your appetite. Visit and see for yourself - Be Inspired!