Creating a Christmas Shopping Challenge

1. Creating a Christmas Shopping Challenge

2. What is the Christmas Shopping Challenge? • Focused effort to encourage families within the communities to visit more of their local independent shops in the pre-Christmas period

3. Why? • To increase footfall and get new potential customers over the threshold of your shop • To divert some of their Christmas budget away from the online giants and major chains back into the tills of the local shops • To get local retailers together to help each other and to grow awareness of what is available in Hove and Portslade • To provide fun and keep families and children happy!

4. How? • Christmas Shopping Challenge Map • Participating Retailers in Hove and Portslade • Retailers Individual Stamp • Christmas Shopping Challenge Certificate & free gift if retailer chooses • Prize Draw entry for adults for completed maps where proof of total purchases has been validated by a retailer or alternative route

5. Who will run it? • Hove Business Association is your registered Local Activation Partner (LAP) and will facilitate the challenge • Retailer input is vital and each participating retailer needs to take responsibility for communicating the message to their staff • Minimum 15 retailers needed to participate

6. What HBA will do and provide • Collate a confirmed list of participating retailers • Create, print and distribute the Christmas Shopping Challenge Map to participating retailers • Print and distribute ‘Celebrate an Independent Christmas’ window posters and ‘thank you for shopping Indie’ postcards • Telephone support – 07801 295799/07920 004639

7. What we need to do to make it work • Retailers must be committed to building rapport and creating relationships with new and existing ‘guests’ who visit their shops • Local marketing; leaflet drop, press coverage, local radio coverage, social media • Prize Draw – Prize fund for 1st prize • No fairy godmother waving a wand. It may take more than the initial visit to secure a sale

8. National and Local Supporters • Action for Market Towns (AMT) • The Argus • Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company • Brighton and Hove City Council • Brighton and Hove Independent News • British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA) • Hove Business Association • Hove Business Partnership • Lollipop Printers • Visit Brighton

9. Other resources available? • Artwork is downloadable from Dropbox • Free listings for retailers via www.independentshops.co.uk • Useful webinars www.independentretail.co.uk/resources/webinars • Useful blogs/articles www.independentretail.wordpress.com • Follow on Twitter @IndieRetailUK and look for #indiexmasor#indieretail • ‘Like’ on Facebook www.facebook.com/indiechristmas • Add ‘Celebrate an Independent Christmas’ logo to your website • For your Twitter account you can add an Independent Christmas ‘Twibbon’ to your avatar • 2nd October Webinar for Retailers 18.30 – Register to ‘attend’ at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/281080470

10. Add a Twibbon

11. Any questions? • Discussion Points

12. What Next? • Complete an Registration form • Decide a date when we ‘Go Live’ • Collate prizes and 1st Prize Fund • HBA will confirm your participation, communicate progress and print and distribute posters and maps and stamps

13. 84 Days to Christmas