Welcome to Retail Checks and Balances, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the bustling world of commerce and culinary delights to help you grow your business and win. Join us as we explore the fascinating stories, trends, and challenges that shape the retail and hospitality industry, from cozy corner cafes to sprawling shopping malls and everything in between. And now, here's your host, Kevin Spencer. 

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, happy Hanukkah from Retail Checks and Balances. This is Christmas Day, festive feeling. Some people take it easy, some people have big feasts for Christmas. I know Bako mentioned that people are getting those hams and turkeys ready, those other Roman scents that fill the home on Christmas day. Today, we're going to take a dive into the aisles and unwrap the Christmas experience at supermarkets. Christmas really takes over supermarkets, doesn't it? From the moment you walk in, the aisles are transformed into a wonderland, or we say winter wonderlands. The ambience, the festive decorations, the sense of vendors having tastings of their different products to impulse you to buy and push those revenues up during the Christmas season. I know it's the biggest revenues that any retailer or supermarket or whatever reach you are in expect from the Christmas season. You know, when you're going to supermarkets, there's a organized chaos. Some people just love that last minute chaos of being in the rush. You know, you see those trolleys full with goods and people just trying to dance around each other. And it's like the ballet of festive frenzy as, you know, as I would like to say. So let's explore this organized chaos, strategic moves, and perhaps share some tips on navigating the holiday shopping rush. You know, if we step back, we should have planned for this as early as January, I would say. Some people start that early, yes, because you realize how much stock you have left from the Christmas season. Some people will have probably invested further from a supermarket perspective in toys, electronics, houseware, things that will impulse people to buy because I'm in the supermarket and I can buy a gift for my mother, my dad, or my mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister, brother, any particular family member that you would think of. I mean, I've even seen cologne, perfume, make it on the shelves at Christmas time. But the most important thing that we need to try and understand is that we always have to keep understanding what percentage of customers that ties back into loyalty. Of course, we did a podcast on that recently. What percentage of those loyal customers make up my Christmas revenue? Because we want to make sure we manage that. Because in some cases, this Christmas might not be what you expected from last Christmas because, you know, things are changing. People are watching their pocket more and more because of the uncertainties that lay ahead. You know, some people are thinking about what happens in January. So like, for example, you know, in January, February, back in Trinidad, it's considered the guava season because it's tough. I mean, we don't really see guavas that much in Trinidad. So I guess that's where it came from. I'm just sparring. I really never thought about it. But Christmas moves into what we have, Carnival. So it's Good spending area for the supermarkets, but is it going to be the same, right? I'm sure most of you would have realized by now that you're not hitting those numbers, and it's because of certain change. But that's where the planning has to come in. We have to go back to see What are we going, what's our plan? What are we going to present for Christmas? Is it the same things? Are we going to innovate and do something different? Are we going to transform the customer experience at Christmas time? You know, we, we want to be able, for me, I want to be able to walk into a supermarket and get those aromas, those, those scents. at Christmas time that really pulls up your spirit, you know, sorrel, the ham and turkey. I mean, some people do have a little piece of that at Christmas to bring that Christmas spirit to us. You know, black cake. We love that. You know, in the US, it's the pine and the roasted chestnuts that we see as that sensory delight. And we can discuss our personal favorites of what we want to expose our customers to. Because it can come from that. And I talked about calling customers before. You can ask people in October, what do you like to see from us for Christmas? you know, some retailers, you know, give out hampers baskets, baskets that they get from vendors to their customers that they have great relationships with, you know, but at the same time, do we look around and see who those customers are from a financial perspective on a report. Who are my top 50 customers? Who are my top 100 customers? How much revenue does that bring at Christmas time based on past experiences? Might have some new customers in there that we're going to massage throughout the first couple of weeks before the Christmas week, which is the big rush that everybody is. you know, we see a lot of people on the street, you know, some of us have much more, um, organized when it comes to the Christmas rush, we would start buying stuff October, November 1, 1, 1, 1. And then it just goes up. That's kind of like what I did because of my busy schedule. I started to buy stuff, um, before what I see, or I go on Amazon and, you know, the great Amazon and just order something comes to the house and, you know, it's the ease of going out. I mean, a lot of people would love that online shopping experience as well, but the traditional Christmas rush shoppers love that to come into your store and you're going to have to change that dynamic of making them feel like there's a change. It might be too late for this year because it's Christmas day, but Going forward into the future, I think there should be a strategic plan in terms of what first muscle, any particular period that you generate high sales, you're going to have to manage that and execute the plan the way you need to do it. Because at the end of the day, if we don't plan, then we're just playing along. And, you know, some people get away with that. Some people do not. because one minute you can just be, Oh, I'm a memory. Oh, I have to close my business because I didn't follow those fundamental steps of being a true retailer. And, you know, within the pandemic, it's, it's, it's going to be tough now because of so many retail operations just came up or appeared that we did not especially happen. I mean, I can have a supermarket here and all of a sudden, because of the pandemic and this guy who couldn't, who had a restaurant, just throws up a retail store because he could have operate and feed his family and survive during the pandemic. And now they're in it, it's affecting your sales. So how do we deal with that? We got to have to, you know, trim some expenses in terms of what we do. We got to talk to our vendors, we got to talk to our customers to see what's the right fit, because you don't want to have a bunch of inventory that remains after Christmas and the vendor say, well, yep, that's that's your thing. You bought that. They're not going to take it back. And then it might be able to survive until the following Christmas, depending what it is. Right. So that's why you have to plan. You have to make sure that going back to what it is and trying to bring things in. Like some people would have bring some sort of Christmas thing into, into, um, October, you know, cause that's really, um, my mom puts a Christmas tree up October 1st, if you believe it or not. Uh, but that first week of October. But what I, what I was talking to a customer about the other day is that if you bring a week, You know, there's something as well that I now remember, Christmas in July, you know. If you bring something that's different, so I was telling this customer, you bring something special in July that will feel out your customers. You know, this particular product, would you buy it in December? run it for a week or two and see how much people would purchase that particular item, you know, and then use that in December because people are accustomed to that particular product. Even if it's a new product, it's better to test outside of Christmas to see if it's a product that will do well for Christmas. And that's, fundamental key that a lot of people don't do. They just wait for Christmas and hope. But as I said before, in January, you see a bunch of inventory that's stacked up there. And when the financial people look at it, it's a cost that's just sitting there now that you're probably going to have to eat and affect your bottom line. So you got to be careful when you do that. And, you know, that's basically what I wanted to express today in this Christmas season. It won't be too long today because we got to get back to our families, but Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Have a bright and prosperous new year. And keep listening to Retail Checks and Balances because it's going to get grand in terms of what we want to do for 2024. God bless you all. Keep you safe. It's been an amazing ride for 2023. And I love you all, my listeners, and I feel your energy. 

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