5 tips for a cracker of a Christmas

With the possibility of another interest rate rise or two in the offing, Christmas revenues are harder to predict than ever before. Simon Porter shares his top five tips to prepare for the unpredictable.

Will Christmas 2023 be a cracker? If you believe IG Design , the world’s biggest producer of Christmas crackers, then no. Pre-orders from major retailers like Tesco and Walmart are significantly down.

If this is indeed a bellwether for the festive season, retailers could be in trouble.

In reality, predicting Christmas this year is hard. Cost of living pressures, inflation and interest rates are combining to make life tough in retail.

If inflation falls and interest rates are still on hold, or even drop, retailers may be in luck. But the flip side is if inflation climbs, we could be in for an unseasonal chill.

Many retailers are doing it tough. Particularly in categories with high discretionary spend, as evidenced by Harvey Norman’s recent results .

On the shop floor of many Australian retailers, it’s the drop off in footfall that is most alarming. This is fuelling a tough battle for the dollars that are being spent.

We’re already seeing deep discounting in the run-up to Christmas. Expect sales to start earlier and discounts to be deeper, which is good news for shoppers.

With so much up in the air, here are my five tips to help retailers make the most of the Christmas period.

Stick to tradition

Keep innovation to a minimum. Christmas is all about tradition. Take the risk out of this Christmas.

Bring in traditional Christmas colours to attract shoppers and focus on inventory that shoppers have bought regularly and loved.

Queue the red and green and don’t forget Santa.

Make it easy

Help shoppers to shop. Make it easy for customers to navigate your stores and get their hands on the products they want.

Double down on product lines that are selling well and make them easy to access.

Use the data from online to inform your in-store displays. If shoppers are searching your e-comm platform for specific products, replicate those displays in-store.

Set up a gifting station

It’s obvious but Christmas is the gifting season. So help people to gift.

Gifting stations can be more adventurous than core product lines as shoppers are more impulsive when buying for others.

Convenience at Christmas is all about taking the pain away from shoppers so consider wrapping stations. They’re labour-intensive but add to the shopping experience and afford a great opportunity to cross-sell and upsell during the shopper interaction.

Likewise, many shoppers just want the easy solution. So create Christmas bundles and hampers for the lazy shopper.

Train your staff

If footfall holds up, retailers will have more temporary and casual staff. So, training is critical.

Prioritise key shopping pain points for your best staff to handle. Ensure your staff are familiar with your range and its benefits. Bonus points for teaching them the art of upselling.

Adjust your opening hours

Christmas this year will be more erratic than ever. Shoppers will be coming into the market earlier in the season to hunt out bargains. There will be sales event frenzies and a last-minute rush in 2023. A cohort of shoppers who sit on their hands for longer and last-minute guilt will see them rushing in. Stores need to be prepared to ride these waves, opening earlier and closing later.

In what could be one of the most difficult Christmas seasons to predict for years, preparation and flexibility are set to be the key requisites to win the season.

Let’s hope Christmas 2023 is a cracker.

Simon Porter is the Head of Retail at Hatched. This article was first published in Inside Retail Nov 14, 2023.