Tokyo's Lucky Bag

Retailers in Japan have a New Year shopping tradition of selling "lucky bags," which contain an assortment of items whose value typically exceeds the price you pay for the bag. Major department stores kicked off business for 2011 on Sunday as crowds of shoppers sought ‘‘lucky bags’’ filled with discount goods and other New Year bargains.

Department stores are hoping the New Year sales will help lead to a recovery in consumption among thrifty consumers.

Mitsukoshi Ltd’s flagship store in Tokyo’s Nihombashi district opened at 9:45 a.m., 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, as many people were lined up in front of the store. As one of the features of its New Year sales, the store was offering lucky bags filled with clothing for 10,500 yen.

Takashimaya Co prepared luxury lucky bags containing tickets for a cruise tour to the Antarctica, priced at 1.8 million yen, to mark the 180th anniversary of its founding.

The Seibu flagship store in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro, meanwhile, offered a series of lucky bags named after recent booms in Japan. They included lucky bags containing outdoor items for ‘‘yama (mountain) girls,’’ the nickname for the growing number of women taking to the hills in fashionable garb, and those including lunchbox and other items for ‘‘bento danshi,’’ or men who fix their own home-made lunches.

To the delight of many Apple fans in Tokyo, "lucky bags" are also sold at the Apple store. But at 30,000 yen (about $370), they don't come cheap.

Even at that price, demand is sky-high, and only the most dedicated of Apple fans can get them. Shoppers typically start lining up the day before the lucky bags go on sale, because every year at least a couple of people hit the jackpot and get a MacBook in their bag. From those who braved the cold overnight, here's a summary of what most are saying they found in their respective bags. I haven't seen any reports of MacBooks yet:

• Sennheiser earphones, smart remote with mic (iPod, iPhone, iPad)
• Mophie Juice Pack reserve
• iWires 3.5mm to 3.5mm stereo plug retractable cable
• iPod nano OR iPod touch
• Griffin Slap case for iPod nano
• Nike+ sensor
• iHome speaker system for iPhone/iPod
• red limited edition Apple T-shirt (view at end of video)

Sale Mania

Historically Boxing Day sales were always set to the be the biggest calender date in the retail year. But is that still the case?

With many retailers offering so many deals through out the year and the ongoing impact of online, it might question how effective the traditional Boxing Day sale is.

Well the simple answer is that it hasn't. It is just that the sales are now even more inviting.

On December 26th Debenhams fired the starter gun on its biggest ever Sale with discounts of up to 70% online and in stores. In fact the online sale started 3 days earlier on December 23rd.

John Lewis, B&Q, Comet, Halfords are just some of the retailers to start their clearance sales on Christmas Eve for internet shoppers, giving web consumers a 36 hour head start over those that will hit the high street on December 26.

Debenhams strategy aimed to jump start trade on the high street after poor trading in the lead up to Christmas because of the snow. Among the bargains to be had were:

• Principles by Ben de Lisi Colour Block Coat, was £120, now £60, save £60
• J by Jasper Conran Tailored Dress, was £75, now £37.50, save £37.50
• Raymond Blanc by Anolon hard anodised 4 piece cookware set, was £200, now £100, save £100
• James Martin 5 piece knifeblock, was £90, now £45, save £45
• Men’s Levis 504 slim straight dark worn in jean, was £85, now £42.50, save £42.50
• Rocha John Rocha Leather Harrington jacket in brown, was £199, now £99.50, save £99.50
• Betty Jackson.Black Complete Collection in Lavender or Iris, was £20, now £10, save £10
• Eylure Girls Aloud Eyelash Set, was £25, now £12.50, save £12.50

And it wasn't only Debenhams seeing the benefits of the post snow, post Christmas slump. John Lewis also enjoyed a strong start to its post-Christmas clearance. Online, visitor numbers were up 25% and sales up 45% on Christmas Day itself. Sales peaked between 9pm and 10pm. The online clearance began at 5pm on Christmas Eve and online sales that day were up 42%.

In fact I heard a report on BBC news that stated online retail sales alone amounted to £320 Million alone on the first day of the sales.

Even here in Australia, The Australian Retailers Association predicted $6.3 billion in sales in the first two weeks of the year. The Association's executive director, Richard Evans, says it has been a tough lead-up to Christmas and some shops have already been discounting heavily.



"Retailers have had a difficult year and they've been trying to stimulate shoppers since early November, doing it through a number of means and one of them is the sales, and we've had up to 50 per cent sales pre-Christmas," he said.

And Mr Evans says the sales will get even bigger.

"From the post-Christmas sales I think shoppers can expect up to 70 per cent or even perhaps more off in some cases, specifically in fashion and I would also say that there'd be some really good deals in furniture and domestic appliances," he said.

So it seems that the traditional Boxing Day sale is most certainly still alive and thriving and there are some serious bargains to be had...if you get online and in store fast.

Matalan Christmas TVC 2010.

Value fashion and homewares retailer Matalan has launched its first TV advertising campaign for four years.

The four-week campaign aired at the weekend during The X Factor, and is designed to “showcase the breadth of the Matalan offer from homeware to kids”.

Matalan senior brand manager Carly Hughes said it has returned to TV to “appeal to new and existing customers” after focusing on improving the design and quality of product as well as the in-store shopping experience in the last three years. This year’s ad features a “magical gift box from which Matalan products are taken and handed to the community”. Matalan’s last ran a TV campaign in autumn 2006.

John Lewis Christmas 2010

Department store John Lewis focused on customers “who care about showing they care” in its Christmas campaign.

Created by advertising agency Adam & Eve, it is set to a cover of Elton John’s “Your Song” performed by BRIT Award winner Ellie Goulding. The 60 second ad shows the full spectrum of Christmas giving, including the difficulties of wrapping and the lengths people go make sure gifts remain a surprise.

Presents featured in the campaign, which will run from five weeks, include top toy performers Butterscotch Pony and Le Toy Van Honey Bake Kitchen Set, as well as a Celia Birtwell watering can, handbag and twin candlesticks.

Craig Inglis, director, marketing, John Lewis, said: “Last year we focused on the joy of receiving presents so this year we felt it was important to show the emotions we all experience at Christmas when choosing and giving gifts to others.”

The ad, which also has two 30-second executions, will be supported by catalogues; in-store and online marketing, including social media, and the song will be available to download on iTunes. John Lewis has used cover versions in its past two adverts, including Guillemot’s singer Fyfe Dangerfield’s cover of “Always a Women”, which became a top ten hit.

Hamley's Christmas Pop-Up stores

Temporary stores in shopping centres will extend the retailer’s reach in key toy-selling period.

Famous toy store Hamleys is making its first foray into pop-up shops with the opening of three around the country to capture Christmas spend.

Hamleys opened Hamleys Toy Box shops in Bluewater and Sheffield’s Meadowhall last week. It opened a third in Chapelfield shopping centre in Norwich on Decemebr 22nd. All stores are expected to remain open until the end of January.

Because of its year-round popularity with visitors to London, Christmas accounts for only 25% of the retailer’s sales, but the pop-ups provide an opportunity to increase takings in the most important toy-selling period in the year.

Hamleys chief executive Gudjon Reynisson said: “It’s an idea we have had for quite some time and we decided to go for it this Christmas. We are taking things one step at a time and haven’t made any decisions yet, but we could either make these stores permanent or have more locations for pop-up shops next Christmas.”

Hamleys branched out from its flagship on London’s Regent Street in 2008 when it opened a large-format store in Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin, followed by another in Glasgow’s St Enoch centre in 2009. The pop-up stores will more than double the toy retailer’s locations in the UK, excluding its travel stores.

Reynisson said Hamleys was “extremely happy” with trading at the 1,000 sq ft Bluewater shop and the 2,000 sq ft Meadowhall store.

“They are very different to our wonderful big stores,” said Reynisson. “It’s really important to give more people access to our own-brand range, and to give customers a taste of the magic of Hamleys.”

The stores will stock 900 SKUs, with own-brand accounting for 70%. The rest of the offer is made up of Christmas best-sellers.

Reynisson added: “We are looking forward to Christmas. We are very optimistic and happy with the year so far.”

Reynisson said that, while pop-up shops were new to Hamleys, operating small-formats was not. The retailer has a handful of airport stores as well as one at St Pancras International railwaystation in London.

A Christmas White Wash

Well it has certainly been a turbulent Christmas for retailers across the world. The weather having had a huge effect on many Christmas sales.

I was in London for Christmas and all over the news were reports of retailers suffering across the UK as a result of the snow. People just couldn't get to the shops and what should have been the busiest weekend of the year on December 18th (40% of high street shoppers and 25% of out-of-town shoppers shop in the two weeks before Christmas) turned out to be quite a white wash.

Reports suggested that whilst many had bought their Christmas presents early, the last minute impulse buys that retailers rely on in the last few weeks of the year just weren't happening. The problems came as heavy snow resulted in shoppers staying in at the weekend causing a disruption to trading. Brent Cross shopping centre had to be closed on Saturday 18th December and shoppers in Bluewater in Kent had problems entering and exiting the car park.



And it was the supermarkets who were hit the hardest. Grant Liddell, key account development director at logistics group Uniserve, said the costs of supply chain delays would have hit grocers the most because of the scale of their operations. He said the snow must have “cost millions for the retail sector”. He said that drivers having to take stock back to depots or ports if it could not be delivered would “add about £1,000 to each container”.

As the weather improved on December 21st it encouraged punters back onto the high street. In fact in that week John Lewis reported sales increase of 4.3%.

But what about those who bought online? Well if you got in early your deliveries were made in time, however the snow caused such transport disruption that many people missed out. In fact online supermarket Ocado said that about 20% of an estimated 3,500 deliveries could not be delivered.

Especially affected were those in Scotland where retailers including Amazon, Marks & Spencer and Tesco either suspended deliveries or warned of delays.

Scottish Retail Consortium director Fiona Moriarty said: “People will rely on the high street rather than online - the high street has been extremely busy since the thaw.”

M and M Direct boss Steve Robinson said while there had been more web visits, it had been difficult to distribute catalogues. But he said: “I think [the snow] has benefited multichannel retailers most.”

John Lewis selling operations director David Barford said: “We’re in a fantastic position. What doesn’t go to clicks goes to bricks".