It’s arrived, a blustery December and Christmas week is upon us. So retailers, before we ramp up for the crazy post-Christmas sales, let’s have a look at how best to clear those shelves of all our Christmas gifts.

Picture a busy high street in winter. It’s probably cold, maybe snowing even, but there’s a frisson of excitement and anticipation in the air. Mr and Mrs Greenlite are scurrying from shop to shop, laden with bags stuffed with gifts, party dresses and festive food. As Christmas draws closer, their spending caution has been well and truly cast to the wind.

British families spent an average £821.25 on gifts, food and drink and decorations, during the Christmas shopping season last year, and there isn’t a store out there that doesn’t want a slice of the action. With online sales growing at over 10% a year, High Street stores need to work hard to impress their audience. That means retailers need to think seriously now about how they’ll whip their Christmas displays into sparkling shape. Think of it as a little black dress detox, overhauling the system so a polished, glittering new look can emerge.

Make it memorable

Attention grabbing displays, interactive product demonstrations, atmospheric lighting, music and bright-eyed, bushy-tailed staff are all key to giving shoppers a memorable brand experience. By using retail theatre, or ‘retailtainment’, physical stores can engage with their customers on a far deeper level, enabling them to live and breathe the brand story and securing their loyalty in the process.

Capture the magic

Not only is the window display quite literally the face of the brand, it gives the retailer the chance to reach out emotionally to their customers and hook them in, creating that sensory connection that gives ‘real time’ shopping the edge over online. A window display needs to, quite literally, stop a shopper in their tracks.

Dynamic lighting displays can be altered in brightness and intensity to set the scene, if you’re going for a homely feel, try warm colour temperatures and lamps. Above all, remember that – just like in the theatre - a great show is nothing without great lights.

Lighting it up

Lighting is a major influencer on our mood. Think about how you want your customers to feel. Do you want your space to have a party vibe, fizzing with festive energy, or do you want to foster a warmer, intimate ambience?

Well-positioned spotlights add a sense of occasion to an in-store display, highlighting the star products in the show. Dynamic lighting can also be set to a sequence that attracts shoppers’ attention, adding drama to the scene. And individually controlled LED units means one part of the store can have a party atmosphere, whilst another zone has a cosy, comforting feel.

Using different types of illumination gives a space texture, depth and atmosphere. you can add a lavish sprinkling of festive feature lighting. From sparkling suspended stars, to twinkling LED curtains and light up letters screaming out ‘joy’, it’s up to you how far you take it!