Retail100 Consulting director and co-founder Sara Allbright

Gearing up for the festive season

Retail100 Consulting director and co-founder Sara Allbright shares her tips for ensuring your Autumn/Winter buy is successful

It would be somewhat obvious to start this column by saying that an A/W buy is critical in the world of gift retailing. However, just as I always reminded my colleagues that birthdays happen 365 days a year - making every day a sales opportunity - there is no escaping that the biggest birthday of all on December 25 is the crux of most retailers’ trading calendar.

Over the years I’ve had a love/ hate relationship with the season. I spent most of my 18 years buying in seasonal and gift areas. But I will never forget the buzz of seeing how sales climb at that time of year - from departments taking thousands of pounds a week, to over a million pounds a day, as the end of December approached. I was also notorious for being the Christmas buyer who didn’t have a Christmas tree at home, having grown weary of putting up and decorating so many at work!

Here are my tips for gearing up for the festive season and ensuring your buy is successful: Buy with conviction and confidence. Make a plan for the season, have a strategy and vision, and then back it. Pick lines that are going to drive volume, and ensure your consumers know they are key. I remember doing this with Panettones: we would design our own tin and then bulk it out to shops, knowing that if we sent them the stock, they would be creative and build towers of it in all locations. There’s no better way to add to your Christmas visual scheme than by using merchandise. Don’t fall into the best seller trap. It’s too easy to stick with things that sold well the year before. While best sellers should not be ignored, it’s critical to ensure your percentage of newness is high enough to excite your customers and not leave your department stuck in a Christmas groundhog day. All best sellers were, at one point in their lifecycle, a new line. Celebrate sell-through. It’s hard not to panic when a product sells out, or dwell on what could have been if you had bought more. There will always be other stock that needs bringing to consumers’ attention, so all is not lost. The morning after the night before. It’s not over when the final purchase is rung up on December 24. The time between Christmas and New Year is a great opportunity to drive more sales, especially online. Christmas Day itself is now a key shopping day online, with many a gift voucher burning a hole in someone’s pocket - or the sheer boredom for some of Christmas Day TV (when everyone else is asleep on the sofa in a food coma) seeing them turn to retail therapy. Launch S/S newness early. If you plan to bring in newness in January and you can get stock early, then launch it in mid-December. I always say that if a product won’t sell in the last two weeks of December, then you are unlikely to sell much of it from January to July. So you might need a Plan B. Obviously this doesn’t necessarily ring true for springseason specific merchandise. Enjoy the process. If you are lucky enough to work in a team, then there’s nothing more bonding and joyful than trading in a festive season. Coming together with colleagues through the highs and the lows has given me relationships with people who are now friends for life. One last word of advice. Don’t forget the Christmas party. You may be celebrating sales or merely surviving, but at that time of year it’s always important to take time for people - and realise that retail is for life, not just for Christmas.

Prior to Retail100 Consulting, Sara worked in buying roles at John Lewis & Partners for 18 years, predominantly for home and seasonal categories, including eight years leading gift and home fragrance buying. She has specialised in brand relationships and growing small emerging brands into market leaders. Sara is also experienced in own-label sourcing across multiple categories and countries.

Email: hello@retail100consulting.co.uk Visit: www.retail100consulting.co.uk; www.linkedin.com/company/retail100-consulting

L-R: Sara Allbright, Anna Berry, Neil Amer and Elaine Hooper