Christmas buyer reveals this year’s biggest festive trends
We spoke to Poundland Christmas buyer Richard Brewin about the biggest trends featured in the Good Homes room sets 2019 at the Ideal Home Show Christmas.
Image: Poundland
As headline sponsors of the Good Homes room sets at this year’s Ideal Home Show Christmas, we got seriously hands-on with Poundland‘s festive offering this year to bring some festive cheers to the designs.
At the show itself, we took some time to talk to Poundland’s Christmas buyer, Richard Brewin, to find out what the biggest trends in Christmas are right now, and what’s been flying off the shelves.
Christmas Eve boxes
Image: Poundland
“Christmas Eve boxes are a really new phenomenon – 3 or 4 years ago, they didn’t exist. We were actually one of the first to bring them to market. I remember, at first, we had very few pieces and I was having to explain the concept of them – now, 3 years later, we’re selling over 1.2 million of them.
You can scour the high street and you won’t find better value for a Christmas Eve box – sometimes we beat our competitors by just 10% or 20%, but sometimes, like with this product, it’s 100% price difference between this and the next available option.”
Statement novelty baubles
Image: Poundland
“The trend for big, novelty baubles has been a staple in the United States for many years. That’s how they do it – every year they add a special new ornament to the tree. The Macy’s department store bag Christmas decoration is even why we’ve done our own Poundland version this year!
In the last few years, we’ve seen these really grow in the UK too – Paperchase was probably one of the first stores to bring them over here. For us, where other retailers are selling with a bigger price tag, I knew that we could do the same thing, but for a Poundland customer.”
Something new and different
“I’m a customer like anyone else, and when you go from shop to shop and see the same things time and time again, it does get boring. Yes, every year people are going to buy plain gold baubles for their tree, but I think what gets people excited is seeing something new and extraordinary. For us, it’s always a risk, but I’m lucky that Poundland give me quite a lot of free rein to try new things.”
Quirky gifting ideas
Image: Poundland
“Even as recent as 3 years ago, Christmas gifting for us was very traditional, but with so much competition out there, we wanted to have a bit of fun with Christmas again. Our sassy, cheeky and a bit naughty range of gifting ideas are something just a little bit different.”
Are you keeping up with any of these Christmas trends? Would you have one in your home? Tweet us @goodhomesmag, post a comment on our Facebook page or mention us on Instagram.