Sharon's Convenience Store Report

October 1, 2009

Sharon Kane, newly promoted to area manager at Henderson Retail in Northern Ireland, considers the right time to launch Christmas in store.

As I was looking for last minute bits and pieces to go on my summer holiday at the end of August, I was shocked to see a huge display of tins of Christmas sweets at the entrance of one of the big supermarkets.

I thought I must have lost a month somewhere since my stores still hadn’t even got their Halloween stock out never mind Christmas.

Sharon Kane: balancing act

There are two ways of looking at this: if the stock is out early it gives your customers time to browse and shop around. However, some shoppers will just get fed up looking at Christmas lines and the early displays take away the specialness of the event.

In my opinion, the beginning of September is too early - nearly four months away from the big day. However, it was clear that some people welcome the early launch because the products were selling.

We started to put out Halloween stock and decorate the stores at the end of last month, giving ourselves one month’s run up to this event. The Christmas stock, meanwhile, is just starting to be delivered to stores now.

In our shops we would normally begin to merchandise bits and pieces of Christmas stock such as tinned sweets throughout October, just enough to give our customers a taste of what we will have on offer for the festive season.

The bulk of stock, including selection boxes, cards and wrapping paper, doesn’t normally hit the shelves until Halloween is over and cleared out of the way.

Christmas decorations are put out in the last week of November and Christmas music is played in store from 1 December.

I don’t see any benefit in launching Christmas too early since customers always come into store looking for tinned sweets in the last few weeks of December because the supermarkets have run out. This is key opportunity and meets the need of shoppers who have forgotten gifts for neighbours or last minute presents for visiting friends and relatives.

In my 12 years as store manager I have even had customers rushing in on 24 December looking for essentials such as stuffing, sprouts and loaves of bread because the supermarkets have run out. It’s a great feeling to be able to tell them not to panic as we have plenty in store.

We always plan ahead for the rush for last minute products, which shoppers remember they have forgotten after the supermarkets close on Christmas Eve. And we also ensure we are prepared and ready to trade again on Boxing Day with sufficient stock to carry us through.

I recall comments from two customers last year. The first in September wondered when we were getting tins of Christmas biscuits in store. The second, at the end of November, couldn’t believe we were putting Christmas stock on display.

Like everything else...you can’t please all of the people all of the time but you can do your best to get the balance right.