Why July could be your most important Christmas marketing month
The AW26 buying season is hotting up. Harrogate Home & Gift is just around the corner and independent retailers across the country are turning their attention towards buying for the busiest trading season of the year.
Over the next few weeks we'll all be doing much the same thing. Walking the aisles. Discovering products we weren't expecting to buy. Talking to suppliers. Refining our Christmas plans. But while we're busy browsing Harrogate, something equally important could be happening back in our own shops.
Our customers are browsing too. Unlike us, they haven't arrived with a buying list or a Christmas agenda. They're simply enjoying a wander. They've got time to discover something unexpected. Time to pause. Time to be inspired. And it struck me that perhaps this is one of the biggest marketing opportunities we'll have all year.
A different kind of customer
By November, our customers behave very differently. They're shopping with purpose. They're working through gift lists. They're under pressure. And we'll all be competing with the corporate Christmas marketing machine.
The supermarkets. The department stores. The perfume houses. The television adverts. Black Friday. Every inbox, every social feed and every high street will be shouting for attention.
July is different. The noise hasn't started yet. Customers still have the time and headspace to enjoy shopping. Perhaps that's when we should be reminding them why they choose independent shops in the first place. Not because they should. Because they genuinely enjoy the experience.
The research is pointing in the same direction
That thinking has been reinforced by several major pieces of retail research published this year.
The Voices of Retail report from Faire, in partnership with Spring Fair and Autumn Fair, found that retailers investing in storytelling, memorable customer experiences and giving people reasons to visit were significantly more likely to be growing than those primarily competing on price. It also found that consumers value the personality and individuality that independent retailers bring to the high street.
Meanwhile, Mary Portas' Memento Generation research explores how consumers are increasingly looking for meaningful purchases, memorable experiences and products that become part of life's story.
Different organisations. Different questions. Remarkably similar conclusions. Customers aren't simply looking for products. They're looking for reasons to visit.
Turning good intentions into action
I don't believe the public needs convincing that independent shops matter. Every time a much-loved independent retailer announces they're closing, social media fills with heartfelt comments. People are genuinely upset. They don't want to lose these businesses. The goodwill is already there.
Our challenge is to turn that goodwill into action while customers are standing in our shops. Not by making them feel guilty. Simply by reminding them that the little choices they make really do matter. Adding an extra greeting card to the basket. Choosing a thoughtful gift they weren't planning to buy. Saying yes to the little treat their child has fallen in love with. Those aren't huge decisions. But across hundreds of independent retailers, they become incredibly powerful.
One idea
That thinking is what inspired me to create Small Shop Summer. Not as Christmas in July. Definitely not as a discount campaign. But as a way of celebrating independent shopping while customers still have the time to enjoy it.
A chance to remind people why shopping independently feels different before the corporate Christmas marketing machine begins competing for their attention. To make it as easy as possible for other retailers to join in, I've made the campaign resources freely available for any independent shop to download, print and use in your windows and around your shop.
Because perhaps the biggest opportunity this summer isn't simply preparing our shops for Christmas. It's preparing our customers. If we can encourage people to rediscover the pleasure of shopping independently now, perhaps they'll already know exactly where they want to start when Christmas arrives.
Independent Retailers can download the free Small Shop Summer marketing resources here today. The campaign runs all summer long, we’d love to have you on board.
