Alistair Gleave » Christmas

Planning for your Christmas ecommerce campaign

admin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:28:00 +0000

Yes i’m sorry to mention this in July – Christmas, it will be here before you know it. So if you have an online shop, and sell and take payment for your products, have you got plans in place, if not why not?

At the time of writing this (28th July) we are just 148 days away from Christmas Day and that will be along before you know it, and if you dont think this to be true then check out what a bike shop in Devon is already offering. A 20% discount if you order your bike now for Christmas delivery.

Why you may ask are they offering this, and why is it any good? Well there business will get their ‘parent’ customer, i.e. the one who says the bills, to buy or at the very least think about buying when time is good and the sun shines to prepare for something just over 5 months away.

The bike shop gets a number of orders way beforehand so it can go to its supplier with order ‘in the bank’ so to speak. I would imagine also building the bikes, have them in stock be prepared for a very busy time way ahead of when needed.

As for the discount, well 20% is a great headline rate and it made me look…..

So what can you do now you ask?

talk to your suppliers, can they offer you any incentive for early orders?

are you email lists upto date, prospects, sales etc?

what deal could you offer customer who purchased now for a December delivery?

So the question has to be, is your shop preparing for Christmas, what are you doing NOW, please use the comments to share….

Exeter 2010 late night Christmas Shopping

Alistair — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:10:04 +0000

Exeter Shopping is a diverse and exciting experience with three main areas, Princesshay, The Guildhall and Harlequins Shopping Centre as well as the High Street home to the big well known retailers, the likes of Boots in Exeter. Then you have the more specialist streets like Gandy Street known for its diverse independent retailers.

I have covered the opening times as best I can below but please check before travelling if you are making a special trip.

Princesshay Shopping Centre in Exeter
Thursday 16 December – 9am-9pm
Friday 17 December – 9am-7pm
Saturday 18 December – 9am–6pm
Sunday 19 December – 10.30am-4.30pm
Monday 20 December – 9am-7pm
Tuesday 21 December – 9am-7pm
Wednesday 22 December – 9am-7pm
Thursday 23 December – 9am-9pm
Christmas Eve (Fri) – 9am-5pm
Christmas Day (Sat) Closed
Boxing Day (Sun) 10.30am-4.30pm. – Selected Retailers
Monday 27 December Public Holiday – 10am-5pm
Tuesday 28 December Public Holiday – 10am-5pm
Wednesday 29 December – 9am-6pm
Thursday 30 December – 9am-6pm
New Year’s Eve (Fri) – 9am-5pm
New Years Day (Sat) – Selected retailers
Monday 3 January -10am-5pm

Harlequins Shopping Centre in Exeter
A small tranquil environment in the Harlequins shopping centre with a range of individual shops and hair and beauty salons providing unique and affordable gifts as well as the more well known designer brands. Do check before you travel as some smaller stores may not be open.

Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm
Sunday 10:30am to 4:30pm
Late night shopping on a Thursday til 8pm

Guildhall Exeter
The published opening hours are below
Saturday -     9.00am – 7.00pm
Sunday -      10.00am – 5.00pm
Monday -       9.00am – 6.00pm
Tuesday -      9.00am – 6.00pm
Wednesday – 9.00am – 6.00pm
Thursday -     9.00am – 9.00pm – late night shopping.
Friday -          9.00am – 7.00pm

Again some of the smaller stores may not be open for all advertised hours – so please check first if you are making a special trip.

Rudi and Judy Reindeer at Otter Nurseries #otternurseries

Alistair — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:36:48 +0000

Rudi and Judy, originally uploaded by alistair gleave.

Rudi and Judy at Otter Nurseries Santa Grotto, yes they sing and sway from side to side, but they are only make believe, not real!!!

At least i dont think Reindeers actually sing do they?

All in all a great experience at the Otter Nurseries Santa Grotto running every weekend upto Christmas

Christmas Late night shopping and events in Exeter

Alistair — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 12:39:26 +0000

It is that time of year again when the nights get darker and the shops in Exeter do their utmost to get us all in to the city centre to spend spend spend, so what is happening and when do you ask, well my list for the centre of Exeter is below.

• Late night shopping hours in Exeter are every Thursday until Christmas and most shops are open until 9pm

• The Christmas light switch on Tuesday 16th November on High Street and Princesshay 5pm -7 pm

• Father Christmas Parade Saturday 20th November from 12 noon – this runs down the High Street to the Guildhall

• For something a bit different why not Hug a Husky – Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th November at the Guildhall?

• For a bit of exercise why not try the Santa Fun Run at a little over a mile and with the Santa costume provided? This is on Sunday 5th December from 10am http://goo.gl/VGHYt

• Finally a Medieval Christmas Crafts fayre is on Sunday 12th December 11.30am – 4pm at Exeter Underground Passages – well worth a visit in itself.

So there you are a by no means extensive list of what is on in Exeter from now until Christmas, anyone got any other good Christmas activities to add to the list?

You know Christmas is coming to Exeter when the Starbucks Red Cups are launched

Alistair — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 13:00:10 +0000

Yes the Starbucks Red Cups are here, you can get yours at the Starbucks on the High Street or Queen Street in Exeter, just make sure you go for a Christmas inspired beverage to go in your Red Cup. You can choose one of four – Gingerbread Latte – my favourite, or Toffee Nut Latte, Peppermint Mocha or and Eggnog Latte.

The holiday red cups have become a Christmas tradition at Starbucks. This year, they are inspired by the idea of people sharing their own stories and experiences to create the holidays at Starbucks.

‘The Starbucks design team used deco-inspired illustrations to create scenes that are open to the interpretation of you the viewer – playful interactions between a cast of characters.’ The idea of this is that you create something with what they have given you on your Red Cup and you can then go on the website and share this with others – you can join the Gingerbread Heads here .

Susan Boyle what's it all about?

Alistair — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:34:00 +0000

So some of you reading this will already have your order in, or may already have a copy of Susan Boyle’s album I Dreamed a Dream, the question i ask is why?
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Lets face it the singer was seen once in an incredibly well publicised TV show in early 2009 and watched how many times on YouTube? – well in the first 72 hours it had 2.5 million views and depending on which video you look at 33 million at the last count – and i cant embed the video as that has been disabaled by ITV – she is simply THAT popular, and this is based on one audition.

Now Susan Boyle has broken records with her album as the fastest selling UK debut album of all time selling over 400,000 copies and its currently #1 in the Amazon music chart – that is some success i am sure you’ll agree.

Her album seems to be on lots of Christmas lists this year, not mine i would hasten to add but i can see the appeal, an uplifting story and a superb voice – we British like a story like this!

Also I guess that just goes to show if you have supreme talent and alot of it then you dont actually need to do alot, but if you do it really really well and it just happens to be in the right place at the right time you too may have your ‘Susan Boyle moment’…

Christmas Top Three Products

Alistair — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:14:17 +0000

Last week i offered a top ten of the what i thought would be the most wanted presents for Christmas, so lets trim that down to the top 3 and where you can buy them for the best price online.
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1 – Has to be a very funny man – Michael McIntyre Live 2009 [DVD]
Michael McIntyre, the comedy sensation of 2009, is back. Michael McIntyre’s meteoric rise to fame took the comedy world by storm last year. He sold out over 100 tour dates around the UK and his first DVD release Michael McIntyre Live & Laughing became the fastest selling debut stand up DVD of all time.
Amazon £9.98free delivery
Play £10.99 free delivery

2 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
Surely THE game of the year – The game has secured more than 15 perfect score reviews, and more than 50 combined Editor’s Choice and Game of the Year awards, for pricing i have chosen the Xbox 360 prices.
Amazon £35.39free delivery
Play £39.99free delivery

3 – Wii Fit Plus
I have Wii Fit and its great, for me it comes as no surprise that the Wii Fit Plus is number one in many lists as THE Christmas gift.

The Wii Fit Plus offers a variety of new features and you’ll be able to customise your own workout routine and choose 20, 30, or 40 minute workouts depending on how much time you have available.
Toys R Us £16.49 – BUT they charge £4.95 delivery
Tesco and Amazon offer this for £16.71 free delivery
Play £17.99 – free delivery

So there you go my top three with where i have found to be the best place to buy them, have a great Christmas !!

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

Alistair — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:06:48 +0000

London is great for the variety of things that happen in the run up to Christmas, you want to visit Father Christmas? then ride a train in Selfridges or visit a themed Father Christmas in Harrods – it is the Wizard of Oz this year! In Hyde Park their is the Winter Wonderland a themed extravaganza of rides, a German Market to name but a few attractions.
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I visited the Winter Wonderland on a very wet saturday at the end of November and i have to say had a great time, there are loads of things to do, so what you may ask is so good i should visit?

Well firstly they say it covers 20 acres and i would have to agree it is rather large and i can imagine on the run up to Christmas it will be rather busy, as to what is you or your family can do well;

Childrens themed area with rides and train – i thought this was great, all the rides were 2 tokens and the staff friendly and approachable, and around this specific area was a Santa Steam train waiting for Santa’s grotto.

Central Londons largest ice rink – and it is massive, i dont ice skate, but if you do i dont think you’ll be dissapointed.

Various rides – bit of an ambiguous one this i know but there really is a whole varity of rides from a Power Tower to a Roller Coaster.

A great German Market – yes Christmas in the UK just doesnt seem right without the German Market, i wonder if in Germany they have an English Market?

A giant ferris wheel - now if you like Big Wheel’s this will please you, unfortunately when i was there it was wet and horrible so the viewing opportunity was poor.

And a Christmas Circus – i’m not one for a circus but i am told this is very good, and the big top is heated!

Tickets are sold as tokens from special booths at £1 each, and the rides are simply x tokens each, the kids rides seem to be 2 tokens and the adults a various amount more. Do bear in mind also the tokens are only valid on the day of purchase so if your planning on a long weekend with a couple of visits you have been warned.

a wet Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

Father Christmas in Hyde Park

Finally on the subject of prices i should mention the Big Wheel, Circus and Ice Rink are all priced outside of the tokens so you may need to book, and more info can be found here.

Is it worth a visit, well yes i think it is, even in the rain we all had a good time.

Top 10 Stocking fillers for Christmas

Alistair — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:10:38 +0000

So what do you want for Christmas, do you know yet? Maybe you havent even thought about it, so let me help with my cunning list of what i think are the top 10 stocking fillers for Christmas.

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I have complied the list below with some top products that i dont think would disappoint if anybody opened one of these on Christmas morning, and all are despatched by Amazon Uk so you can be assured of a fabulous ordering experience and great delivery, they will even wrap the presents for you with a gift card!

10 – LED Lenser Police Tech Focus Torch Black

9 – Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs [DVD] [2009]

8 – Eclipse (Twilight Saga)

7 – Guinness World Records 2010

6 – 20Q Version 2

5 – “Top Gear”: The Official Annual 2010

4 – Frankie Boyle – My Shit Life So Far

3 – Wii Fit Plus

2 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)

1 – Has to be a very funny man – Michael McIntyre Live 2009 [DVD]

Late night shopping in Exeter

Alistair — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:58:19 +0000

Yes i am afraid Christmas is just around the corner, a little over 6 weeks away at the time of publishing this post, so if you haven’t already then you need to start thinking about all those gifts, decorations and tins of chocolates you dont need but somehow just seem to want.

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In case you didnt see it why not have a read of a previous post in October.The Three signs you know Christmas is coming to Exeter

Princesshay Exeter
The most modern of Shopping facilities with a number of great stores, Disney, Debenhams and New Look to name a few, definately worth a visit.
Monday 0930 – 1800
Tuesday 0930 – 1800
Wednesday 0930 – 1800
Thursday 0930 – 1800
Friday 0930 – 1800
Sat 0930 – 1800
Sun 1030 – 1630

Christmas Tree in Princesshay Exeter

Princesshay stores will be opening until 9pm every Thursday starting on Thursday 19 November through to Thursday 17 December.

Harlequins Exeter
The tranquil environment in the Harlequins shopping centre offers you a pleasant and stress free Christmas shopping experience. Our range of individual shops and hair and beauty salons provide a range of unique and affordable gifts as well as the more well known designer brands. Take a break at one of our café’s before returning to your car or the P&R bus with your shopping. We have three Car parks, either on site or a stone’s throw away at Mary Arches Street and the Guildhall.

With late night opening till 8pm from Thrusday 26th November.

Guildhall Exeter
Perhaps Exeter’s oldest shopping location, here you will find the likes of WHSmiths’, Primark and a number of Jewellers. They have a number of exciting things planned in the run up to Christmas.
21st November at noon the Christmas Parade
27th,28th,29th November they have a Christmas Gift Market
6th December a Santa Fun Run

December opening hours
Thursday 3rd 4.00pm - 8.00pm
Saturday 5th 10.00am - 5.00pm
Sunday 6th 11.00am - 4.00pm
Thursday 10th 4.00pm - 8.00pm
Saturday 12th 10.00am - 5.00pm
Sunday 13th 11.00am - 4.00pm
Thursday 17th 10.00am - 8.00pm
Friday 18th 10.00am - 5.00pm
Saturday 19th 10.00am - 5.00pm
Sunday 20th 11.00am - 4.00pm
Monday 21st 10.00am - 6.00pm
Monday 22nd 10.00am - 6.00pm
Wednesday 23rd 10.00am - 6.00pm
Thursday 24th 10.00am - 4.00pm