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Consumers prepare to spend £21 billion this festive season
The Entertainer runs The Big Toy Appeal
The Entertainer joined forces with The Salvation Army last month to launch The Big Toy Appeal: a campaign that aims to give as many underprivileged children as possible the joy of opening a present on Christmas Day. The initiative encouraged customers to pick up an extra toy to donate when they visited The Entertainer’s stores. For every toy donated, the retailer also donated a toy, doubling the number of donations. Shoppers at the retailer’s website TheToyShop. com were able to join in too by adding a gift to their online basket.
Smyths opens in
Merry Hill
Smyths Toys Superstores cut the ribbon on a new branch on 5 November at the Merry Hill shopping centre in Brierley Hill, West Midlands. On opening day, shoppers were treated to free candy floss and plenty of goodies. On the weekend of 6 November and 7 November, the party continued in-store with special guests including Chase & Rubble from Paw Patrol and CoComelon’s JJ, and many more dropping by at various intervals. Meanwhile, Smyths recently partnered with Hasbro to offer the nation their very own personalised Cluedo boards for the festive season. The Cluedo Personalisation Tour travelled across the country with 21 live dates at seven Smyths stores between 22 October and 28 November, giving shoppers the chance to create their very own family edition of the whodunnit game. From Colonel Mustard to Miss Scarlett, fans were able to replace famous suspects with pictures of their own friends or family - making games night that bit more personal this Christmas.
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Customers have donated more than 60,000 toys since the appeal launched in 2018. This year the appeal aimed to reach a total of 100,000 toys. The chain also brought back its Letters to Santa workshops. Children attended sessions in-store, where letter-writing elves helped add a little extra sparkle to their Christmas list letters and delivered them direct to the North Pole. Kids can expect a personal reply from Father Christmas himself before the big day. The workshops were a huge success in 2019, with more than 22,757 children taking part.
Asda partners
with Peppa Pig George at Asda has partnered with Peppa Pig and Ecologi to offer a range of clothing made from responsibly sourced cotton through the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) as well footwear, accessories and wooden toys and playsets made with FSC-certified wood from responsibly managed forests, as part of Hasbro’s Plant with Peppa campaign. Plant with Peppa aims to teach children about the importance of trees, and Peppa Pig’s reforestation programme pledges to plant 10,000 trees at projects based in England, Wales and Scotland. A variety of trees including oak, maple, crab apple, cherry, silver birch and Scots pine will be planted, and families will be able to check their progress either at the virtual Peppa Forest on the Ecologi website.
One in four consumers intend to splash out more this festive season, with an average spend of £428 per person - up from £384 last year, according to PwC. This increase, which is across all age ranges and regions, means a total predicted spend of £21 billion on presents and celebrations: up 12% on 2020. PwC forecasts that given the disruptions of last year, the increased spend will be driven in part by more people planning to spend Christmas with extended family, leading to more gifting opportunities. Meanwhile, recent price inflation means people expect they will need to spend more. It adds that the first two weeks of December will be the busiest for Christmas shopping, but more than half of consumers will have bought most of their presents by the end of November. Concerns over stock levels, delivery times and further impacts of Covid are forcing consumers to shop earlier than usual to avoid disappointment.
Hamleys heads for Westfield London Hamleys has signed a lease for an 11,000sq ft permanent store at Westfield London, scheduled to open in Spring 2022. To maximise on the Christmas shopping period, a pop-up Hamleys shop opened in the shopping centre on 19 November, which will operate until the permanent store’s launch. Visitors to the pop-up can expect Hamleys’ world-famous in-store experiences, including live demonstrations, special guests, and festive entertainment. The permanent shop will showcase a new store concept, featuring engaging and educational play areas, with interactive and exciting installations, as well as a year-round programme of in-store events and character appearances, adding to the centre’s already established family brands, including LEGO, The Entertainer and KidZania London. Meanwhile, Hamleys has announced a Christmas partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity GOSH. The initiative includes the launch of a limited edition run of 1,500 Hamleys GOSH Bears, with £16 from the sale of every bear being donated to the charity to support seriously ill children from across the UK.
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