Shops rely on traditional ways to load up customers

By IRENE CHAPPLE marketing writer

Big retailers are taking frazzled consumers by the arm and steadying them through the Christmas countdown.

With a late weekend shopping rush expected, consumers won't have to duck flamboyant sales pitches but will be teased with a flurry of reliable tactics to tempt the credit-card limits.

A quick look around Auckland shows the standard decorations have been dusted off, and modest deals are touted from shop windows. Retailers agree - the tried-and-tested methods bring the buyer through the door. This Christmas, like those gone by, it's a case of steer the way but don't rock the boat.

Retail Merchants Association chief executive John Albertson reckons the major operators will stick to well-rehearsed formulas, but smaller retailers may take more risks because, if it doesn't work, they can rapidly rejig a campaign.

With chain stores and franchises, he points out, it can be hard to maintain the continuity nationally if there is a deviation from reliable marketing ploys. Plus, "They've always got to be listening to customers and if the formula works why fix it?"

Traditional decorations of holly, tinkly bells and Christmas trees remain the favoured garnish, despite our season in the sun. Although Christmas is predicted to be cloudy, surely a token gesture towards the Kiwi beach-bum season could pull at patriotic shopping strings? Maybe so, says Mr Albertson. But we're a traditionalist lot.

"It's probably safety-first," he says. "But someone will break the mould."

Farmers is stretching the traditional boundaries, with a campaign by Singleton Ogilvy & Mather based around the Kiwi Christmas. Farmers chief executive Nick Lowe says it is a unique campaign showing what New Zealanders do over Christmas.

"At the end of the day," he says, "in New Zealand we don't sit round the fire roasting chestnuts."

The multimillion-dollar national campaign started in mid-November and runs through until Christmas.

One advertisement shows a car parked on the beach, towels and surfboards ready for use. Another shows a caravan lit with Christmas lights sitting on a cliff above miles of beach. The feedback on what he calls a very interesting campaign has been great, says Mr Lowe.

Smith & Caugheys is another retailer to embrace the antipodean season. Walk in and find decorations of pohutukawa, not a flake of snow in sight. The colour scheme avoids the typical red, gold and green - for this fashion experience, lavender and purple attract the eye.

It is the first time such a campaign has been used, says special projects manager Kevin Broadfoot, and the response has been positive.

Meanwhile, Mr Albertson suggests retailers must make choices easy for the consumer. They need to take the stress from consumers' burdened shoulders.

Rod Duke, managing director of Briscoe Group, which runs the Briscoes and Rebel Sports chains, has leaned on a heavy advertising run, but with no surprises.

He says the group has tried package deals before, but that confuses customers. They have tried two-for-one deals and bonus products - it doesn't work. Plus, they are too high-risk and the margins do not warrant the gamble.

"The value has got to be extreme to work," says Mr Duke. "We are selling brands and the margins are very low."

He has upped the ante of the marketing campaign, but it is a low-risk investment relying on television and print advertising. Millions have been spent - hundreds of thousands more than in past years - but the campaign relies on proven tactics.

It culminated this week with the seven days leading to Christmas heavily weighted with advertising.

Books, the easily personalised Christmas favourite, are being pushed by Dymocks' Booklovers Card. The reason people come to Dymocks is because "we are book people", says Paul Sunde, general manager of Dymocks Franchise Systems. It offers the high-tech smartcard, which records purchases made by Dymocks' Australian and New Zealand customers. They can then receive free gift vouchers and other carrots to keep on buying. Over December, users have been tempted by offers to win signed Lord of the Rings products and free trips.

The card, launched in June, is now used in one-in-five transactions, says Mr Sunde. "It has positioned the brand strongly for the Christmas lead-up, and it ensures exclusive offers are communicated to our most loyal customers," he says.

It also means Dymocks can track buyer behaviour and takes away what Mr Sunde calls the "shotgun approach to marketing".

Rival bookseller Whitcoulls also invests heavily in tracking buyer behaviour. It employs a fulltime researcher to analyse consumer feedback and identify gaps in the market, says chief executive officer Mike Ferrand. It also has an automated system that controls stock by tracking it from supplier purchase, to sale through a retailer, to re-ordering. And exclusive deals are beckoning from the bookshelves, with In My Day by Richard Wolfe and Norm Hewitt's Gladiator proving early hits.

Customers are showing appreciation in foot traffic, says Mr Ferrand. "The average basket size is well up on last year."

The key to enticing Christmas crammers is to have the right stock on the shelves when they walk through the door.

The reliable and cheap favourite, The Warehouse, pushes simplicity when it wants to pull customers. At a frenetic time of year, buyers want uncomplicated bargain offers, says marketing manager Grant Jennings.

"Customers have become sceptical of retailers who show big discounts," he says. "They realise the equivalent product at The Warehouse is probably cheaper every day, so they discard the hype of these offers."

The Warehouse stores will be open until midnight on the days leading to Christmas Eve so the disorganised have time to grab something for the kids.

And a wink towards the summer Christmas has infiltrated the red barns. "You'll find our cartoon kiwi character pictured in store posters," says Mr Jennings. "With surfboard in hand, wearing jandals."