The Transfer Print Column
Ding dong merrily on high (order): Prepping for christmas
Business savvy minds may wish to think ahead to their busiest periods to ensure they are fully prepared. For promotional goods that tends to be the festive season but it is never an exact science working out what will be popular in six months time. But Graeme Turner, owner of The Transfer Press has been through the same motions and has used his first column to give his two cents of advice.
I
’m sitting at my desk at the beginning of June – and my working day will consist almost entirely of making final predictions of what our customers will want to buy for Christmas. Unlike almost every other business relying on Christmas to provide a large proportion of their annual turnover, trying to predict what our personalised gift printing customers will sell in the weeks leading up to the big day requires me to go into full crystal ball mode. It’s easy for turkey farmers – they know that eight million of the game bird will be sold, the supermarkets place their orders in advance and they can work to a timetable to get their product onto the shelves.
Popular consensus
Defying logic and previous experience I rang a few of our long-standing customers and asked them: “What do you expect to sell big this Christmas?” and the answers were predictable:
“Not a clue – but it will be something we haven’t got in stock and that you suppliers haven’t got enough of” said one sage voice and we reminisced about the year when everyone wanted glass coasters and I ended up ringing every European supplier I knew and buying 10 boxes here and 20 there.
“Something really difficult to press – and the quality of the photos will be even worse this year” said a contemporary of mine with a weary sigh – and we discussed retirement options and sounded like Waldorf and Statler on their balcony, and finished the call having agreed only that we didn’t have a clue what Christmas would bring. “Something obscure but the customers will arrive even
later this year and expect overnight delivery” said the next – and I felt his pain.
When we started in this business 23 years ago the first Monday in November was like turning on a tap, we had three weeks flat out, then it slowed and by mid-December our customers were buying odds and ends for their final orders and then shutting for Christmas.
The last few years have been very different – yes, some customers get organised ordering their ink and paper and some of the ‘always’ items: mugs, coasters, backpacks, keyrings, bookmarks, soft toys and fridge magnets, which sell steadily every year but then we all sit and wait till Black Friday (November 27 this year) and only then the world goes crazy.
Modern-day issues
I’m as big a fan of online shopping as most, but it’s conditioned us to expect instant availability – even here in rural Devon we can order on Sunday evening and get delivery Monday lunchtime. This means people buying personalised Christmas presents assume that they can place an order for the kids’ photo on a mug, upload an out of focus picture and get a printed mug the next day – and when it isn’t perfect place a scathing review – “I thought they’d take out the red eye and make it sharper – 1 star”. Sometimes printers make it difficult for themselves – an order for a pallet of mugs “for my last Christmas orders” placed on December 19 a few years ago was followed hours later by an order for a mug press when the printer calculated he couldn’t produce that many mugs in time to get them in the post.
So, dear reader, what should you take from this? Firstly, perhaps the reassurance that we, your suppliers, really are trying to get the products you want on time and in sufficient quantity.
A variety of popular promotional goods | 40 | July 2026
We hate going out of stock as much as you do. Secondly, that the earlier you place orders, even if just for paper, ink and a few core products, the better and easier all our lives will be – and maybe I’ll have time to source more of this year’s hot item from a contact somewhere who has stock. Thirdly, well perhaps I’ve come across as being weary and cynical about this business, and although some days that’s undeniably true, it really (mostly) is a lot of fun with some of the nicest, friendliest, most creative people I’ve ever worked with – and may I be the first to wish you a very Merry (and profitable) Christmas.
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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