It’s 11th November which means there’s only 44 sleeps until Christmas! Sounds like a long time doesn’t it? Well that’s where you’d be wrong - the festive ad campaigns are already in full swing and the supermarket aisles are overflowing with Christmas goodies – actually they have been since Halloween! Mince pie anyone?
Retail analysts have predicted that consumers plan to shop early this year to help spread the cost and are likely to look for ‘bargains’ that will be subject to the increase in VAT on 4th January 2011. Having spent half an hour queuing just to get out of a large retail car park at 4pm on Sunday and watching shoppers struggling with their bulging bags, I can well believe that this is indeed the case. So it comes as no surprise that Marks and Spencer has launched its Christmas ad campaign nine days earlier than last year. And on a dull, rainy, cold November day this musical extravaganza of an ad certainly does help spread some seasonal cheer. With a star-studded line up (Twiggy, Dannii Minogue, Lisa Snowden and Peter Kay to name but a few) and parody dance moves modelled on iconic musical moments, who could fail to get in the Christmas spirit?
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On a more serious note, although we all might be on a festive-fuelled spending spree now, come January we’ll probably be reining our spending back in and tightening our belts once again. Some retailers have already started to address the impact of the VAT increase, with Morrisons extending its Christmas Collector Card programme into January for the first time, and it’s likely that other retailers will follow suit with VAT driven initiatives throughout January. So let’s make the most of a fun-filled Christmas and remain optimistic that it won’t be such a bleak new year.
