Christmas is coming. Where did this year go? A couple of weeks ago I received an email with the headline: “Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Christmas sells..”

I was curious and opened it – it was an invitation (from a Government Department) for small business owners to come to a meeting to discuss Christmas selling strategies. Due to other commitments I couldn’t make it to the meeting. I am sure it would have been interesting. So I will put my own thoughts here.

I suppose this coming Christmas won’t be such a cheerful one for a lot of business owners in terms of sales figures. There is no doubt that a lof of the economies in the world have slowed down and that there are a lot more people struggling as a result.

The best indicator on how the economy is faring are the sales figures for lipsticks, champagne, fake jewellery and lingerie. This is not a joke – the higher the sales of those items, the worse the economy. I let you figure this one out yourselves! Lipstick, lingerie, champagne and “bling” jewellery are considered recession proof. There is certainly some food for thought here.

There are also a lot of potential customers who are not really affected by all this turmoil in a material sense BUT – and this is the important thing – their thinking has been affected, the fear factor has set in. They could go on spending as they normally would, but they aren’t.  A lot of them have just become cautious, they feel uncertain about the future and they are holding on to their money.  I don’t know whether all of this economic turmoil and other doom and gloom will actually lead to people re evaluating their life, their lifestyle and their spending choices. It might have a positive impact after all.

People here have started talking about Christmas shopping, what a chore it is, how stressful it is and that they have to start now to get ahead. So far I haven’t heard anybody say that they are not going to buy anything because times are so bad.

Maybe smaller ticket items will be bought or people will look for more value – something that lasts longer or something that will keep its value over time…maybe people will look for something more meaningful.

Maybe it is worth your while running a survey and to ask your past and potential customers whether they will shop differently this Christmas. What changes are they making? Why? What are they most likely to buy? It might give you some ideas for your business.

Till next time,

Connie and Charly

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http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com