The Force of Merchandise

Star Wars is one of the largest film franchises in the world. The original films pioneered merchandising in the 1970s, into an industry worth billions of pounds. Is there anything that cant be branded 'Star Wars' check out the video clip below and see what type of merchendise is getting made in anticipation of the new release.

Star Wars Merchandise

Xmas Jumpers on the Decline

Regardless of when we reached peak Christmas jumper, retailers have reined in stock this year, demand is down and discounting is already under way.he problem, according to Lorna Hall, head of market intelligence at WGSN, is that the market for jumpers featuring red-nosed reindeers, jaunty penguins and sparkly snowmen is saturated. “People who wanted to buy everyone in the family a Christmas sweater as a joke have done that now and they are not going to do it again,” she said. “If you’re wearing a Christmas jumper this year, you are probably going to be pulling it out of the bottom of the wardrobe from last year or the year before.” Asda admitted that demand had slowed dramatically: it expects sales of Christmas jumpers to rise by only 6% this year. Last year, sales doubled and a year earlier demand soared by 450%.

Xmas Jumper Decline

Online Christmas

An increasing number of British customers prefer shopping online rather than going to a high street shop, according to a study. As much as 90 per cent of people said they did at least some of their shopping online, with nearly 70 per cent citing excessive crowds as being the main drawback to shopping in stores, according to a survey of 2,000 people by Approved Index. "Avoiding the crowds definitely seems to be the biggest component in the rise of online shopping at Christmas time. However, we have noticed that there are many factors playing into the trend, such as exclusive online discount codes and the convenience of home delivery," said Bobbi Brant, brand manager at Approved Index.

Christmas Shopping

Flavour of the Month

Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy will soon have his own limited edition flavour of crisps, courtesy of Walkers. Vardy is very much the flavour of the month in the Premier League at the moment,  The Leicester striker is also Player of the Month for November, retaining the award he won in his October, having established a new Premier League record for goals scored in consecutive games.The crisps will only be on sale at Leicester's next few home games.

Vardy Salted

Holidays Are Coming...

Coca-Cola Enterprises has added some festive cheer to its 1.75 litre bottles with a new limited edition bow design, allowing consumers to transform the bottles’ wraparound labels into neat decorative bows. Consumers can peel away the bottle label to reveal a tab that, when pulled, forces the label to contract and form a bow shape on the front of the bottle. Available from the beginning of December across the four key variants – Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Life – the festive format will help retailers to drive seasonal sales and encourage consumers to share Coca-Cola with a loved one, the brand said. The novelty pack also means that shoppers can add something special to the table when hosting festive get-togethers. The new format will be supported by in-store point-of-sale material and the launch of Coca-Cola’s Give a Little Happiness television advertising campaign, to air across the UK from early December with a ten-second homage to the new bow design. Coca-Cola Enterprises director of operational marketing Caroline Cater said: “Christmas is the most popular calendar moment of the year, and as soft drinks is the most frequently bought category during the festive season, its vital we help retailers make the most of the opportunity and offer exciting national campaigns to boost sales.

The Magic Bow

Crisp Candles

If you like Pringles so much you want to climb into the tube and immerse yourself in their crispy, salty loveliness, you’re in luck. No, they haven’t invented a human-sized tube (sadly), but you can now get the next best thing – Pringles scented candles. The candles currently come in three flavours: Pigs in Blankets, Cheesy Cheese and Texas BBQ, and promise to fill your homes with the festive smell of Pringles. A Pringles spokesperson explained: ‘Sales of Pringles boom at Christmas… so what better way to create the perfect festive atmosphere than with the scented Pringles candle?’ But here’s the bad news: the candles are currently just being trialled and aren’t actually available to buy this year.

Merry Pringles

100% Charity Christmas Card

 

We spend over £250m on Christmas cards in the UK each year. Many cards are sold to raise money for charity however a recent survey found some retailers hand over as little as 10p per pack of Christmas cards to charity.  At what appears to be the least generous end of the scale, the Co-op gives nearly 7% (10p) of its £1.50 cards to food poverty and food bank charity FareShare, while Lidl gives the equivalent of 8% (10p) of a pack price to children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent. However a group called the Sreepur Village has set up to change this and produce the best Christmas card ever - one that donates 100% of the purchase price. Started 26 years ago by British Airways flight attendant Pat Ker, the Sreepur Village charity in Bangladesh - cares for up to 100 destitute women and 500 abandoned children. It helps fund itself from the sale of Christmas cards handmade on the site using materials grown locally and decorated by women from the local community for a living wage. Each pack of 16 costs £14.75, which includes UK postage and packaging - however they have already sold out!

100% Charity Christmas Card