Autumn Fair is promising to be a pivotal occasion for retailers looking to stock shelves and create enticing shop windows for the Christmas period.
Autumn Fair takes place from 1 – 4 September at NEC Birmingham and is set to offer a comprehensive view of the latest trends in gift products ahead of the Christmas rush.
Visitors will have the first look at groundbreaking launches across 10 definitive sectors, featuring over 500,000 purchase-ready products. Autumn Fair boasts over 800 exhibitors, with 30% of them being exclusive to the show. This exclusivity provides unparalleled business opportunities that cannot be found elsewhere.
According to the IPA Insight Christmas Report*, the average British consumer is expected to spend nearly £600 on core Christmas-related products and activities during the 2024 festive period. The outlook for the Gift sector is especially positive, with 55% of UK adults planning to allocate most of their budget to gifts for others.
Ensuring shelves are well-stocked during the last two months of the year is crucial, as almost a third (31%) of all consumers are anticipated to still be shopping in December, while 43% aim to complete their shopping before Black Friday on 29th November.
The timing of Autumn Fair makes it the perfect event for retailers to stock their stores with quality products just in time for the industry’s peak season rush.
Statistics also reveal that young workers are particularly open to buying gifts from new or emerging brands, with nearly two-thirds (61%) of 25-34s, more than half of 18-24s (54%), and 35-44s (56%) considering this. Autumn Fair, with over 200 brand new exhibitors, innovative new business pavilions and exclusive partnerships, is the ideal hunting ground for discovering gifts for these consumers.
Soraya Gadelrab, event director of Autumn Fair, said: “While the impact of the cost-of-living crisis cast a shadow over the festive 2023 period, the sector’s resilience shines through. Our exhibitors are feeling optimistic about an uplift in consumer spending on more personal, unique and meaningful gifts across toys, beauty & wellbeing, fashion accessories, and home décor.
“As retailers navigate uncertainties, focusing on the Christmas trading performance is pivotal for delivering profitable growth in 2024. Autumn Fair offers an unparalleled showcase for this essential buying period.”
Highlights from Kids, Toys & Play
Consciously crafted from eco-friendly wood and silicone, Bigjigs Toys’ 2024 collection is rooted in sustainable play. The latest line-up joins the brand’s award-winning Simply Scandi collection and features one-of-a-kind stacking toys, shape-sorting puzzles, sensory activities, educational toys and pretend play sets.
New to Autumn Fair, Ravensburger will debut its collection of brands offering puzzles and games. Look out for the launch of Play+, a new infant/toddler range which will be a focus at the show.
Willsow, creator of the first ever plantable children’s books made with handmade paper, embedded with real vegetable and herb seeds to plant and grow, has launched a new range of designs. The new plantable desk calendars, designed in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), include a plantable paper insert for each month with different flowers to grow.
Exclusive to Autumn Fair, Grass & Air is the go-to kids’ footwear, rainwear, swimwear, clothing and accessory brand to be ready for anything. Presenting playing outside in new and different ways, with products and designs inspired by the ever-shifting influences on modern family life, each collection evokes a feeling or an emotion that connects to contemporary outdoor living.
Look out for Orange Tree Toys, the home of bright and stimulating FSC – certified (FSC C167936) wood toys for young children. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025, is run by two sisters, Anuja Wilson and Lamani Simons. The toys are made from FSC – certified wood, with no plastic and recyclable packaging.
Explore carefully crafted wooden toys that are built to last from House of Marbles and Lanka Kade and an enormous collection of cuddly animals and heatable plush toys from Warmies, Keel Toys, TY UK and Mary Meyer.
Designed to bring laughter and learning to little ones, look out for HippyChick’s range of educational and playful nursery toys as well as brain-teasing puzzles and the newest board games from Cheatwell Games, Asmodee and University Games.
