Christmas planning should be well under way by now

Christmas is on the way! Didn't anyone tell you? Your planning for Christmas will depend in what type of retailer you are, but the planning stage should be through or almost through by now.

Some retailers see the trade uplift from towards the end of October, whilst others don't see that until December.

Planning takes many forms and needs to cover many areas-

Staffing

Generally retailers will hire temporary staff to assist with the uplift in trade. For me, it's all about looking at your needs from the outset. Not just what hours you want to be covered but the exact nature of the duties you want these temporary staff to carry out. Think about the areas where you will see an uplift in sales, where your existing team will be best used and then you can identify any gaps in your weekly planner.

From this point you can plan extra hours x number of weeks x hourly rate to work out the costings of your extra Christmas staff.

When you are happy with the costings, it's about advertising the vacancy/vacancies whilst you design the recruitment process and timescales.

Advertising

The fact that it's Christmas will be a part of the natural advertising for any retailer - people will arrive at your door looking to buy.  You need to enhance this by your own marketing or advertising. This doesn't have to be expensive - changes to your shop window, your website and your social media presence can have a big impact.

Range

Now I'm probably too late for Christmas 2014 but changes to your range in time for Christmas can and will make a difference to your sales. Gifting and capturing the imagination of someone buying for someone else has become a massive industry. If your range is too static to change this close to Christmas this year then ease consider what you may be able to do in time for next year.

Hope this helps.

Tesco sales drop is about more than price

I'm just reading about Tesco's figures and the fact that their sales dropped by 3.1% over the last quarter - the biggest drop since records began in 1984.

My wife and I were in Tesco yesterday and the problems became more obvious to me as we sat in the café overlooking the store.

The problem is that they get nothing right

Now this isn't an anti-Tesco rant. It's true. Look at the facts-

• They don't do quality as well as Waitrose
• They don't advertise as well as M&S
• They don't do cheap as well as Aldi
• They don't do mobiles as well as Carphone Warehouse
• They don't do cafés as well as Costa
• They don't do toys as well as Smyths
• They don't do tech as well as, well anyone really

This adds up to a poor showing overall. The growth of Tesco has come from the "all under one roof" philosophy but this has come at a price to consumers. The reality of the philosophy is "all in one place, but only 60% as good as if you bought it elsewhere."  The idea of training staff up to be as good as their competitors in each field wpuld take a huge investment. The model of the department store, with market leaders delivering each sector, stands up better than Tesco's current plan.

It is my belief that consumers in the UK tolerate standards that would be unacceptable elsewhere in the World.  For example, I conduct mystery shopping programmes for some major restaurant chains and the question regarding food quality is "was the food rancid or spoiled in flavour?"  Now is this a standard we find acceptable?  In most European countries poor restaurants close because people won't pay good money for something below par.

It's the same with Tesco - customers are starting to find them out. Why pay higher prices for less-informed service on technology? Why buy their Finest range when, for a comparable price, you can buy M&S?

There is a bottom ground for discounters and there are already a few in the market. Why are Morrisons rushing for the lowest price ground? Why are analysts urging Tesco to join them?

A company that ploughed some of their vast profits back into a living wage for their staff, more staff available for customers and a higher standard of service would win every time.

Not everything can be bought on the High Street - MP3 version of The Hunting Party by Linkin Park on pre-order