by John Stanley

Retailing for Christmas 2011 is now behind us, and many forecasted it would be one of the more difficult Christmas trading periods we have had for a number of years. In the lead up to Christmas, I travelled through Europe and the Americas and found that retailers and businesses were coming up with novel ways of creating ideas for the consumer experience. These are the top ten ideas I discovered.

1. Interactive Shop Windows
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is not the first place you expect to come across innovation, but a walk down Whyte Avenue shows how you can bring a nostalgic Christmas to life .The Old Strathcona Business Association created the “Return of Magic” for Christmas 2011. Nine retailers joined forces to create a Christmas destination with old fashioned Christmas windows. These included Santa’s workshop, nativity themes, etc. It was not this alone that is worth mentioning, but the way they integrated a traditional theme with modern marketing. At each window there is a MP3 Code where you can scan onto the Return to Magic website using your smartphone. The website then provides the story and history of the display you are looking at.

It talks about the fact that this type of window display started in the late 1800’s in the USA when such windows also included live circus acts. In the 1920’s, electric motors were introduced to bring animation into the shop windows, bringing paper-mache Santa’s to life.

For me, this highlighted how we can bring the nostalgia of Christmas, history and modern technology together to create a retail destination.

2. Toys for Tickets
St. Albert is a small city in central Alberta. Like many cities, it has parking meters and consumers who will park illegally. One thing it does at Christmas, though, is “Toys for Tickets.”

If you park illegally between November 15th and December 7th, you will get a parking ticket, but you have a choice on how to pay the fine. You can simply pay your money or you can give a toy gift to a charity for under privileged children. This is how it works:

• The ticket must have been issued between the above dates
• You must pay the fine within the agreed time frame on the ticket
• The toy you gift in must be suitable for a baby or up to the age of 16 years old
• The toy must be new and in the original toy box
• The toy must be to the value of a minimum of $25 and must be presented with the receipt

The authority found that the average gift donated is valued at $40, and last year 70 percent of those fined donated toys to the value of $4,200. What a great way of marketing and sharing the good spirit of Christmas. The idea has now been taken up by Red Deer, Vancouver and Fort St. John in Canada.

3. Added Value for Poinsettias
The Poinsettia has now become a commodity retail Christmas plant. You will find them in supermarkets, petrol stations, hardware stores and other retail outlets, and as a result, they have become price sensitive and are often sold at the cheapest price. I was therefore impressed to see how Holes Enjoy Centre in Alberta are adding value to the product and moving it away for the price point. A few Christmas trimmings and a bauble and you have a new non-price sensitive product. Christmas is an ideal time to move commodity products into added-value zones, and we need to think of other products where the same can be achieved. Chladek’s in Prague in the Czech Republic went one step further and sold 1m high Christmas tree-shaped Poinsettias.

4. Reward the Sales Team
ASDA is the UK sister of Wal-Mart and one of the major supermarket retailers. The company is also aware that it’s the sales team that make the difference on the lead up to Christmas. In December, it launched “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Every day in the two weeks leading up to Christmas, they handed out ten pound gift vouchers to team members who delivered exceptional customer service. Apart from this, they also passed on twenty pound gift vouchers to all the team, along with a free Christmas meal. This is when team members are at their most stressed and of the biggest benefit to the business. This is the time to reward the team as it brings in the most beneficial rewards.

5. Delia Smith Wins Again
Delia Smith is the most trusted celebrity chef in the UK and works closely with Waitrose supermarkets. This year, the business created Delia Day in November and promoted her as its food hero for Christmas. The real winning idea was to pick up on the trend of baking and create the Delia Smith Christmas Cake in a box. All the ingredients were placed in the box so all the customer had to do was add the egg and start mixing. It was a huge success. The key secret was providing a solution in a box − something many retailers miss out on as a retailing idea that adds value to the consumer.

6. Dare to Be Different
The key to doing anything noteworthy is to dare to be different. Take a walk through St. Pancras Station at Christmas and you would have seen the traditional Christmas tree in the station foyer. But, the live tree had been replaced by a 12.2m; 6,000-brick Lego tree created by Duncan Titmarsh, the UK’s only certified Lego Professional .The tree was made by two local schools, involving the local community.

The key is daring to be different. Taking a traditional idea and developing it to the next stage. The world’s largest Lego Christmas Tree is an example of this thinking process

7. Build on Nostalgia
Marketing has moved back to nostalgia as a result of the desire of the consumer to reflect back on the “Good Old Days.” As a result, we have seen a surge in traditional markets and the Christmas market in town squares across the world at this time of year. Gloucester on the edge of the Cotswolds in the UK went one step further by creating a Victorian Christmas market. All stall holders had to wear Victorian clothes and old Victorian equipment and props were brought in by the organizers. This included a traction engine, and the memorable smell of the steam engine waffled through the air. Actors interacted with the consumers. When I was there, an actor pinched an apple and the old “peel” policeman chased him through the market. If retailing is about atmosphere, then the Gloucester Victorian Market had it for me. As more markets appear, the leaders need to do something different.

8. Make Christmas Candles to St. Nicholas Day
Chladek’s Garden Centre in Prague, Czech Republic, is one of the must-see Christmas shops in that city. I was there on St. Nicholas Day, which is three weeks before Christmas. They had all their team dress up and get involved with the visiting children. They had a candle making session, but spread the components required to build the candle around the garden centre. This meant child and parent had to visit all parts of the store and see what was on offer. A simple idea, but something we often forget. We need to engage the consumer, but also get them to see the whole store.

9. FaceBook and Christmas Trees
Chladek’s is also the largest single seller of Christmas trees in the country. This year, when a consumer bought a Christmas tree, they were given a leaflet inviting them to take a picture of their decorated Christmas tree and place it on FaceBook. The garden centre would then judge the best dressed tree. As social media becomes more acceptable by business we need to build more of these integrated marketing campaigns

10. Nostalgia is a Trend not a Fashion
Everywhere I travelled in the weeks leading up to Christmas indicated that nostalgia is a trend rather than a fashion. In Livermore, Colorado, I worked with a client who has developed Miniature Living Gardens based on an idea that was introduced to the Chicago World Fair in 1893.The traditional miniature gardens were decorated to develop a Christmas theme. 2012 will continue to be a year of innovation, but we need to blend nostalgia with new technology.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

John Stanley of John Stanley Associates provides conference presentations, workshops and consultancy to the retail industry in 30 countries. He can be contacted at john@johnstanley.com.au.