Every year it seems to come around quicker – if you haven’t already started planning for your Christmas sales, then get cracking with Inside Retail’s Christmas survival guide.

Get planning

It may be still be several months away, but now is the time to begin preparing for the hectic Christmas period.

While the majors generally begin strategising their Christmas campaigns and designing customised decorative themes early in the year, those buying decorations off the shelf are advised to start preparing once mid-year sales end.

Lisa Lubar, product and business development manager of Christmas supplier and decorator, Chas Clarkson, says consistency is key when planning a Christmas campaign.

“Retailers need to ensure that their whole Christmas campaign is unified – from windows and instore, to marketing to their Christmas wrap and packaging,” says Lubar.

In the digital space, Christmas 2013 is shaping up to the biggest ever in terms of online spend.

This means retailers need to prepare themselves for high influxes of traffic and ensure their internal systems have the capacity to shift online deliveries as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Richard Umbers, executive GM, parcels and express services at Australia Post, says having the right technical infrastructure in place before Christmas is crucial.

“All the evidence is suggesting that this Christmas is going to the biggest online shopping Christmas ever,” Umbers told Inside Retail Magazine.

“Websites will need additional capacity to be able to handle the increased traffic, and picking processes and handling within the retail chains need to be upgraded in time for Christmas.”

Since 2010, Australia Post has seen a “mid-November phenomena into Christmas”, according to Umbers.

“People naturally appreciate it actually takes time to send and receive a product from online. As a result of this, Christmas is actually becoming earlier in terms of purchasing behaviour, spreading out to November.

“The peak is probably still in the same place, the Monday before Christmas, but what we’re seeing is that the importance of that peak is declining because of the stretch from November to January.”

Last November Australia Post upped its delivery capacity by extending hours across its retail network and delivery services, offering twilight deliveries and weekend deliveries.

Similar services will be provided this year, but rollouts will depend on demand.

The postal giant is predicting there will be a greater focus on item tracking and returns this Christmas.

To keep up with this trend, Australia Post’s packaging has been overhauled as part of its newly enforced “barcode everything” policy.

“Online sellers will want to be able to advertise that they can track that product so the customer can know where it is over peak times.

“As a seller during busy periods you will want to prove that it’s been delivered, and as a buyer you often want proof of lodgment services as well.”

For those contemplating the use of a courier service, Australia Post has launched Courier Post, as well as a new mobile app, Parcel Send, targeted at small businesses and private online sellers.

But for those looking for the quickest way to move parcels that won’t break the bank, Umbers suggests Express Post.
“I think really what the customer would be choosing [between posting and a courier service] would be conveniences of the speed we can get it there versus the cost.

“For many, Express Post is the best compromise because it offers all the reliability of delivery the next day but it isn’t a bespoke courier.”

Get visual

The Christmas jingles may be cheesey, but that doesn’t mean your store interiors need to be.

“We design about a dozen signature trim themes every year and we try to make sure that covers a large cross section of tastes and demographics,” says Chas Clarkson’s Lubar.

Retailers do not have to restrict themselves to the traditional Christmas colour palettes of green and red, any theme can be chosen as long as it reflects the values and image of the brand.

“Whatever retailers choose in style and colour, they should try and have it reflect the values of the business and be able to have a connection with the customers that they’re trying to attract.

“If you think of certain retailers, like the Body Shop or Country Road, they may want to promote organic [decorations] or be more eco-friendly. Similar retailers may want to be a little more natural looking and less glittery.

“If you are an up-market retailer you may want to be mindful that what you’re using doesn’t look cheap and average, or something that can be found anywhere – it’s important to differentiate yourself.”

It may be the year for online, but window displays remain a huge draw card with consumers over the festive season. The key to having successful visual merchandising (VM) displays is consistency.

Visual Inspirations works with some of the country’s biggest shopping centres groups, including AMP, Federation, and Westfield throughout the Christmas season.

Ryan Cliffe, creative director commercial, Christmas, and retail design at Visual Inspirations, abides by the old saying less is more.

“Retailers need to consider designing a window that is going to make people say ‘wow’ and want go come in,” says Cliffe.

When creating instore promotions, grouping price points into clusters is recommended by most advertising gurus.
While November will see the bulk of larger, and more thought out purchases, the closer Christmas becomes the more convenience a last minute shopper wants.

Promotions such as “Gifts under $20” or “Gifts mum will love” are a savvy way to capture that time poor consumer.
As for windows, they should be changed every two weeks in the lead up to Christmas.

“Keep the basic prop the same. Invest in something modern like a really nice tree or beautiful sculptured reindeer and place some product in there to compliment the display,” Cliffe says.

“The days of just filling the window up with fluff… that’s a bygone era.”

Get talking

With e-commerce sales expected to skyrocket this year, Christmas is an ideal time for savvy retailers to capitalise on their social media presence.

Instagram, along with its new 15 second video feature, is an innovative tool to bring the offline online, allowing retailers to show users instore displays, creative VM concepts, and most importantly, sales offers.

But Thomas Mahon, GM of Salmat’s Local Direct Network (LDN), warns retailers should not underestimate the power of a traditional holiday advertising medium – print catalogues.

“During the Christmas period advertising is very much about problem solving,” says Mahon.

The demographics retailers target with their marketing at Christmas time is generally different to the target market they’re looking for at any other time of the year.

Geographically targeted letterbox drops of traditional catalogues enables retailers to change or broaden the scope of distribution.

As most shoppers are hitting the shops hunting for gifts, retailers have the potential to acquire new customers who ordinarily may not have thought twice when walking past your door at any other time of the year.

“It’s the beginning of the loyalty program but at a really basic level,” says Mahon.

Merchants also need to keep in mind that Christmas is an emotional time of year for consumers, with most purchase decisions driven by the heart and not the head.

“All people can think about when buying a gift is,‘I hope they like it’or ‘I hope I’m buying the right thing’, so it’s really important retailers consider that.

“If you can formulate or articulate in your marketing or advertising plan that the present you can offer will make them happy, then that’s a real opportunity.”

So how can you position your business to stand out against the competition?

It’s not about reinventing yourself, but leveraging your business’ already known strengths.

“If your strategy is to be the best price, then give the best prices at Christmas. If your strategy is a great shopping environment, then give your customers a great instore experience,” says Mahon.

“Make sure you leverage your strong points during Christmas because everyone is screaming for attention. You need to give shoppers a reason to want to shop with you versus your competitor and most of the time it is what makes you different that attracts your customers.

“Advertising, just like any other time of the year, is all about taking away pain points, and we all know that especially around Christmas time it can be very stressful.”

This story originally appeared in Inside Retail Magazine’s August/September 2013 edition. The October/November issue, featuring Inside Retail Magazine’s annual 50 Most Powerful Retailers List is available now. For more information, click here.