For retailers and caterers, Christmas is the biggest time of the year, when up to 40% of hotels’ trade is done and wholesalers’ takings can swell by more than a third in the final week before the holidays.
Here are 12 things you need to be doing to make the most of the festive season.
- Begin Christmas deals in November – don’t wait for the price wars to start in mid-December
- Make sure your sales team have tasted the products they are selling to restaurants
- Be prepared to help your foodservice customers plan their Christmas menus before November
- Book a restaurant and hold a night for your top customers to come and meet your suppliers
- Follow UP the restaurant night with a trade day in your depot the same week
- Offer a sale or return policy on core lines over Christmas to give customers confidence
- Tell your retail customers to advertise their promotions in their shop windows
- Extend your customer credit policy by a week over the festive season
- Get a head-start and ask your foodservice customers what they will need from you and when
- Make it easy for your customers to order – with brochures and online ordering, call them early
- Have a top quality range of gluten-free and other ‘free from’ products
- Focus on the period between Christmas and New Year, when the multiples have exhausted their stocks
