You’re Christmas cracker suppliers – what do you do the rest of the year?

When we are asked what we do for a living, and we reply ‘we make Luxury Christmas crackers’ the usual response is ‘what do you do the rest of the year?!’?

Let us tell you month by month what our year looks like:?

January?

Christmas may be a recent memory, but we are all systems go preparing for the next one! Our key trade shows are in January with Harrogate Christmas and Gift Fair being the second week of January. Trade shows are a vital part of our calendar as, despite wonderful photography, our products benefit from being seen in real life. We run shoulders with other Christmas Cracker Suppliers and get to see what else is happening in the industry.?

Simultaneously, we are working on bespoke accounts with the graphics and creative teams working flat out to develop product specifications and obtaining sign off of designs. We complete a full stock take and system updated in January which affects all our teams.?

February?

Spring Fair at the NEC is a key date for us, being an exhibitor for the last few years. Its a chance for us to connect with customers and suppliers. Having two trade shows so close together is a huge demand on our teams. However, the feedback from them is key to informing our product developments for the following year – which is already being finalised.? We agree on our licensed partners for the following year, with the majority of the design work being already completed.?

It is also Chinese new year and being owned by a family of Chinese origin, this holds special significance for us.?

March?

All our main order deadlines are in March. For those who buy from our range in volume we ask for all orders to be confirmed in March to allow us to commence production in April. Our bespoke customers have a little more time but these projects are also being finalised with order quantities and preproduction (red) sampling well under way.?

The logistics team are looking at container planning and the production team are scheduling the plethora of customer orders.?

We are also signing off our design specification and costing for our range products and Christmas cracker designs for the following year.?

April?

We will go into mass production for our off shore production in April. Bespoke customers will be asked to finalise their quantities and sign off design specifications. The sales team will have confirmed the range order quantities and will now know what stock they have left to sell over the coming months. ?

We will also confirm our sampling requirement for the following years range collection.?

We are quite unique as one of the UK’s Christmas Cracker Suppliers, as we cover all sectors. Our products range from the upmost luxury crackers, more economical family formats, gaming crackers and other products. We have something for everyone.?

May?

Mid production (gold) samples will start to be available for bespoke orders and for our range. These will be shipped and reviewed by all concerned, including all our licensed partners. Our UK handmade customers will start to sign off their design requirements with product and material purchasing commencing.?

We will check in and sign off on the UK handrolled designs for brochure in May – always a joy to see what the team have come up with!?

June?

Production in the UK will commence, this includes our own range of UK handrolled Christmas crackers as well as our bespoke orders. We will start shipping our orders from our off shore production. ?

Our compliance department are in full flow with product testing, product reports and specification checking.?

July?

Our bespoke Christmas cracker orders will begin completion and shipping will commence. Our FOB customers will start to ship their orders and sales are well under way. Our NPD team will be working on a new line up of products for two years time. Meanwhile, the creative team are reviewing trends for the next few years to ensure we are ‘en pointe’ with our range.?

We usually have our company away day in the summer which is always a wonderful affair!

August?

The first of our containers start arriving so the pressure is on to turn these around and ship out initial orders. The logistics team will be coming into their own with daily dispatches, unload planning and stock management. Our red samples for the following years collection will be among the deliveries which will be reviewed internally prior to it’s inclusion to the brochures.?

Key bespoke accounts will start to look at the following years mood boards and will start to discuss their requirements.?

September?

We will be holding our photoshoot for the following years brochure in September. This is key in building a successful brochure and to be able to sell our products. Its a time for the creative juices to be flowing, the brochure lay out to have been agreed and signed off so we have our shot list.?

Our Amazon store will be fully stocked and sales will start to ramp up.?

October?

Dispatches continue throughout October and orders keep coming in. The next years brochure will be finalised so the creative team are hard at work bringing this to life . Our key accounts will start to discuss next years quantities and designs – yes, while this years crackers are only just hitting the shelves!?

We will also spend time in October distributing Christmas crackers to local charities, something we are very passionate about.?

November?

Our external Christmas cracker making events are held which is such a joy! We love sharing the secrets of how we make our Christmas crackers. In November, we are also launching our new products and brochure for the following year. The logistics team continue to work hard with daily dispatches and the sales team are selling through on this years crackers. We start to request and collect testimonials and feedback from our customers to ensure we can address anything of concern moving forwards.?

We also complete our Schools Christmas cracker design competition in November!?

December?

The final dispatches of UK made bespoke products will be made. Our last minute sales will be completed and we start to move our website over to display next years products. We hold our own in house Christmas cracker making events for our team but also external guests (get in touch if you wish to get involved!) We also hold our warehouse sale. We do get asked about single tray sales and we direct customers to our stockists, and if they have sold out, to our Amazon Store.?

Believe it or not, the end of December is actually one of the quieter times for Christmas Cracker Suppliers!?