As the Government introduced it Plan B last night, encouraging people to return to home working, retailers will hopefully benefit from an increased footfall in local towns as they work hard to entice customers back into stores.
Preschoolnews.net caught up with a number of independent preschool stores to find out about their efforts to bring shoppers in-store ahead of the festivities.
“Because we fear supply chain problems, we’ve incentivised our customers to shop early for Christmas – we’ve been offering 25% off all toys for the last two weeks,” explains Simon Wilson, owner of Piccola. “This has worked, as the discounts make it easier for people to buy now rather than in December. We all have to try to encourage shoppers to return to our high streets”
Julia Marsen, owner of Ottie and The Bea, added: “We do an annual late night Christmas shop for our local customers and there has been a lot of interest in these events. A lot of our customers are popping a few extra bits in their basket when they come in as a gentle start to their Christmas shopping.”
Consumers are enjoying being able to shop in person again, as Hellen Stirling-Baker, owner of Small Stuff, explained: “My local customers are loving coming in to browse and the ‘experience’ of shopping, we’ve also got plenty of exciting events happening in the run up to Christmas to get people through the door.”
Many are seeing a continuing shift towards shopping local, as Julie Logan, owner of The Olive Branch Toyshop, told PPS: “We’ve really felt the warmth of our local customers and a general feeling of wanting to support local, small businesses rather than travelling to busier city centres.”
Karen Bridle, owner of BabyB Store agreed: “Early indications are showing that people are Christmas shopping early and still enjoying supporting the local independent stores. We have definitely seen an increase on gifts sales.”
Despite early interest from consumers, retailers are reporting mixed experiences with delivery of stock. Some, like Nicola Amies, owner of Sea Whistle, have managed to avoid delays: “So far I’ve not had supply challenges, though I have sourced mainly from the UK and Europe with the latter being goods wholly fabricated in the EU to avoid import tax hassles.”
While others had to wait for stock, or not being able to order at all, as Simon explained: “We’ve had European suppliers we have worked with for some time saying they can’t supply the UK any more because the increased costs and workload created by Brexit makes it no longer worth it, while household name suppliers told us they wouldn’t be able to make further deliveries to the UK until late November.”
