My Nan, bless her has a (quite frankly brilliant) system of doing her Christmas shopping. In her words, she “hates the crowds and being over-charged for tat”, and so for that reason, she gets it all out of the way in January – literally a couple of weeks after Christmas is over, so she’s ‘prepared’ for the following year.
She will drag my begrudging Granddad along by his polyester scarf (that she bought him for Christmas the previous January) around the shops, trying to buy everyone’s presents from Great Grandchildren through to her own siblings, including my Dad, who I can honestly say I have never seen use or like one of these 12 month old ‘Christmas’ presents she’s bought him.
As a child, she would often buy me clothes during this extreme spell of organisation which would either be too small by the time it got to Christmas, too big as she’d over-exaggerated how much I’d ‘grow into it’ or they’d have been in the ‘last season sale’ in the January, so by the time December came around, they were at least a couple of years out of fashion.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love my Nan, and every present she’s ever bought me, but having spoken to family, friends and colleagues leading up to this Christmas, and sharing our stories of what we’ve had in the past or are expecting to get this year, it got me thinking about the magic of Christmas shopping and whether people still either enjoy doing it, or more to the point, want to do it…
I work in Digital marketing, and so the majority of my working day is spent at my computer. This mainly revolves around the internet and its associated subsidiaries. I also have a smartphone, and spend a lot of my free time at home or on the road using the internet to help with my everyday life. I have online banking, online bills, I research restaurants online before I go to them, I check online traffic reports if I’m travelling, I read the latest news on a tablet, I no longer need to take books, games, music players, maps etc when I go on holiday and best of all, if I need to buy anything, I can do it online.
I will be the first to stand up and show my genuine sadness regarding the fact the high streets are suffering, however. I live in a small village in the North and I love the market square that generally looks the same as it has done for the past couple of hundred years. The buildings all have Tudor style beams above the shop fronts, there are cobbles in the square, and everyone walks through the churchyard which always looks beautiful whatever time of the year.
Having said that, the local shops and small businesses that made the village centre what it was, are all disappearing. The streets are no longer made up of local butchers and bakers, the boutique clothes shops are empty and the cafes that used to serve the shoppers when they wanted to stop for a coffee and piece of cake, are a thing of the past. They are all replaced with bars and restaurants, late-night takeaways and ‘express’ branches of National supermarkets. These are the types of places where you can get everything under one roof at a fraction of the cost.
It’s not just the big name supermarkets that are having this effect though. The town centre itself is generally very quiet during the day. And I am classed as the most guilty of causing this…because I don’t need to shop anymore.
I kid you not, I haven’t stepped foot in a single shop to purchase any of my Christmas shopping. Admittedly, some of the things I’ve bought cannot be purchased in shops perse, but everything I have needed for Christmas has been bought online.
We do our food shopping online and get it delivered to the door, and so buying the booze and food for Christmas is easy. Getting this delivered from a supermarket is great, and they sell anything on top from electronics to clothes and Christmas decorations. Brilliant.
I’ve bought things that I feel are really heartfelt this year. It’s the first Christmas I’ve had with my girlfriend, and so the gifts that I’ve got for her and her family were literally done one afternoon whilst she was getting ready for us to go out. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about each and every present, and how I hope all family members will be thrilled with what I’ve bought them.
And that’s kind of my point. You can literally purchase anything via the internet now. Within reason, I bet you can’t think of many things that cannot be bought online. It’s no wonder people don’t go in shops anymore.
We’re even buying my Mum a kitten for Christmas and that’s been sourced through the internet. Fair enough, we’re going to pick that up (no, you can’t send kittens in the post) but my point still stands; unfortunately the day of the shop is gone, and the digital world is taking over.
This can even be seen on the many Christmas adverts on TV. Next time you watch an ad break, make a note of how many companies are suggesting you can get discounts for buying online, follow that company on various social media platforms or get your products delivered in time for Christmas if you order through the website.
As I mentioned earlier, I work in digital marketing and this holds a lot of similarities to shopping. I communicate via email, social media or smartphone. Realistically, I could do my job without ever having to meet a human being. And that scares me.
However, at Happy Creative, we’re not like that. We strive with every element of new business that comes our way to ensure we meet with the relevant person/s as soon as possible. We firmly believe that a face to face meeting is the most important part of any working relationship. You buy into the people, not the company and that’s what we pride ourselves on.
Yes, we are working on some brilliant digital work at the moment, and yes, the majority of the communication is done electronically. But, we wouldn’t be working with these great clients if we hadn’t met them in person. And that will always be the case.
My final word on this, is that knowing just how may people, especially in business are just like me. Whether it’s through lack of time, lack of interest or just a love of the digital world, anything they want to find out will be done through the internet. If they need to buy a Secret Santa gift for a colleague that will be delivered in time for Christmas, there’s an app for that…trust me.
But the thing that really worries me as a digital marketer, is the complete lack of online presence that some organisations have. I genuinely cannot believe the lack of product knowledge in marketing your business online. As a bare minimum, a website should be in place as an extra sales tool. That goes without saying in my opinion. And not one of these ‘set up a website for £99’ jobbies. It should be a reflection of your brand and organisation, specifically designed and built to fit your business.
Then there’s social media. Facebook and Twitter as a starting point are free. Why wouldn’t you have a business page or account on both of these. And no, they’re not just for uploading pictures of you and your friends drunk on holiday.
Have you had less customers through your door recently? Do you have less communication with ‘real’ people? Maybe it’s because they’re all getting their products/services from your competitors online…
From myself and all of us at Happy have a very Merry Christmas and a Fabulous New Year.
Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more, please email simon@happy-creative.co.uk , Tweet @Happy_creative or call 01253 446933. www.happy-creative.co.uk
