Stocking up for Christmas: Festive fixes

Are you preparing yourself to boost business at Christmas? Phil Mellows dishes out tips on how to profit from the festive season.

Wouldn't it be brilliant if Christmas was on a Wednesday every year? Unfortunately the Christian calendar doesn't organise itself around the British licensed trade. Yet again Christmas Day falls on December 25 which this year happens to be a Saturday.

You could look on this as losing a weekend. But if you're wise to all the additional opportunities the festive season provides and steer your business towards making the most of them, the pre-Christmas period could still be your best ever.

As publicans think increasingly like retailers we are gaining a surer understanding of the way customers act and how differently they behave when they are in a celebratory mood.

In general, Christmas brings out the social animal in people. Regular pub-goers go to pubs even more while couch potatoes and dinner party stay-at-homes make an effort to join friends in the local.

Christmas is like an open day for pubs, when potential new customers can check you out and make a note to return at another point in the year - if you can deliver a memorable enough experience.

Licensees and their staff therefore need to be at the very peak of form, understanding what their customers want and making sure they get it.

This is not business as usual. Even your regulars will be expecting something special. Christmas is a time when people trade up. They are willing to spend a bit more, perhaps for a premium beer, a fancier wine or a spirit and you have to be ready with something different.

For Colin Pedrick, managing director for on-trade sales at Interbrew UK, making this Christmas a success is all the more important in the wake of some miserable summer weather.

"The festive period represents the last chance for the industry to generate sales momentum in 2004 to make up for what has been a disappointing year," he says, stressing the sales opportunity created by the period between Christmas and New Year's Day when much of the nation is on holiday and free to visit the pub.

"This period has become a big opportunity in its own right because so many people are on holiday. This is particularly true this year because both Christmas Day and New Year's Day fall on a Saturday so a large number of people are likely to have the whole week off. This will be an absolutely key time for pubs because so many people will have time on their hands.

"In addition, people are keen to get out of their homes after being stuck in all over Christmas so this seven-day period really is something to focus on."

He points out, however, that the pre and post-Christmas drinking occasions are very different.

"Pre-Christmas, visiting the pub is very much about celebration as people meet up for a drink while the post-Christmas occasion tends to be more family-oriented. It is a time for relaxation and taking things a bit easier. Pubs, therefore, should make sure their marketing activity is appropriate to both occasions."

Whether it's pre or post there are some basic things you need to do to make the most of the Christmas opportunity.

Consumer research shows the biggest factor affecting drink choice is visibility with 45 per cent of people influenced by displays and 35 per cent looking for what is stocked each time they visit the bar.

Plus nearly half of all consumers don't go to the bar at all when they visit a pub, a figure that may well go up at Christmas when there are more groups of drinkers out and about.

So you don't only need to merchandise at the bar but also make sure those purchase cues are positioned all over the pub.

Another issue that Colin feels strongly about is quality. "Product quality is key at Christmas because so many occasional pub-goers come into the market," he explains. "It is important that their experience of the pub is good because a quality experience may encourage more of these occasional visitors to use the pub more often.

"Quality is often the first thing that gets dropped when pubs get busy but it really doesn't need to be the case as it doesn't take much longer to serve a perfect pint."

Finally, you need to actively market your Christmas offer by making a noise about it both inside and outside the pub.

"It is important to let your customers know what is happening and you also need to communicate Christmas activity to local people who don't normally visit the pub to generate new traffic," says Colin.

More on Stocking up for Christmas:​

• Christmas is a time when you must make everything in the pub work for you - click hereto find out how.
• Phil Mellows looks at festive flavours to add to your offer. Click here.
• Sam Ellis of Drink Tank explains some pub psychology in time for Christmas. Click here.