Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The organisers of Independent Retailer Month in July have shared some early details of their planned “Celebrate an Independent Christmas” campaign for 2013.
The campaign is a nationwide effort to improve footfall to high streets, towns and village centres, to increase consumer confidence, and to boost retail sales. It was founded in 2012 by Clare Rayner as a spin-off from the well-established Independent Retailer Month.
Clare Rayner said: “It may seem a long time away but local councils are probably already planning budgets for their Christmas promotions, so it’s not too early [for retailers] to be approaching them and letting them know that they want to get the town involved, with the council’s support.”
She continued: “We’ve learned a great deal from both Indie Christmas 2012 and our Enjoy an Independent Easter campaign. We’re wrapping all these learnings into an evolved approach for the Indie Christmas 2013.”
She said the focus will be on families, because last month’s Easter activities, which got kids collecting stickers to complete a task in return for a small reward, really seemed to capture the imagination of customers in the 56 areas that took part.
So the aim for this Christmas is to create a similar challenge, that requires participants to ‘decorate a tree’ by collecting bauble stickers, available from participating retailers.
When the kids have completed their trees (which they can keep), they can show it in any of the participating retailers will be rewarded with a certificate of completion and a treat.
To engage adults, they will also need to collect bauble stickerts and produce receipts totalling a given amount to be entered into a prize draw.
Clare also hopes to create a further opportunity for consumers nationally by inviting them to register online for a chance to win £1,000 cash. All they need to do is enter their details via the dedicated website; the data can then be used when promoting future events.
Clare added: “The idea is to make it as much fun as possible, to engage as many people as possible, and to encourage spending.” And she emphasised her message to retailers: “If you are keen to get your town involved with the Christmas fun please make sure you put the idea forward to the council ASAP, so it’s on their radar!”
