BRC urges consumers to start Christmas shopping early this year

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has launched a new national advertising campaign urging consumers to start their Christmas shopping earlier this year to help ease the load on retailers.

Since the March lockdown, businesses across the UK have been investing hundreds of millions of pounds in strengthening their supply chains and implementing new health and safety measures.

But the BRC is concerned that the hectic rush of holiday shopping normally at its peak in late November and December could create health and safety risks for shoppers, store colleagues, warehouse workers and delivery drivers.

The new ‘Shop early, start wrapping, enjoy Christmas’ campaign is looking to mitigate that by encouraging shoppers to begin shopping earlier.

“Whilst celebrations will no doubt be a little different this year, we know customers want to keep Christmas special. That’s why we’re encouraging people to shop early and prevent the last-minute rush so their fellow customers and all the store colleagues, warehouse workers and delivery drivers working behind the scenes, have the space they need to stay safe and well,” BRC CEO Helen Dickinson said in a statement.

“BRC’s September sales figures show signs some customers have already started a little earlier than usual, as spreading your Christmas shopping has many benefits in today’s climate - from safety to managing finances. However, we want more people to embrace the true Christmas spirit, think of others and ‘Shop Early, Start Wrapping’ and most of all Enjoy Christmas - however they are celebrating”.

The BRC ‘Shop Early’ campaign has been launched across national and local radio stations from today and will run across national print and social channels until early November.

Photo credit: Pexels