Christmas comes early in business

Friday, August 14, 2009 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Retail sector | Tags: entrepreneur, Ros Simmons, women in business, VIE at home, Virgin, recruitment, Christmas, customers, Retail Week, promotions, campaign

Ros Simmons, CEO, VIE at home : ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…’ Yes, even though it’s August, Christmas at VIE at home is just around the corner. Finding fairy lights and Christmas trees in August is actually very hard, but the team excelled themselves in finding the right props…

They also found the right Christmas-themed music, and last week we launched our Christmas product and promotions strategy to our key people - the 50 Heads of Regions.

It’s always a challenge to launch Christmas on one of the hottest days of the year, but the feedback was amazing.

The team said it was the best meeting they have had in four years… and they really liked the combination of new products and strong promo offers, such as beauty bundles for £25 containing more than £50-worth of products.

This year, more than ever, customers are going to be looking for great value, but I also believe that as we are all tired of hearing about the credit crunch, they won’t be skimping on presents and retailers will have a good Christmas.

Reports from Retail Week that customers will shun cheap and cheerful stocking fillers are good news for us, as they will want to buy products that they know won’t be stuffed in the back of a cupboard or put aside for a car boot sale. Customers will also be looking for a more traditional Christmas, with strong values of bringing the family home together for the festive season at the fore. And who can argue with that? (Well at least for Christmas Day and maybe Boxing Day at a push!)

So back to Christmas at VIE!

We already have had a bumper year for recruitment with women looking for extra ways to earn money – party plan selling is a perfect way for them to fit parties in around their family commitments or full-time job – so our Christmas recruitment campaign starts next week, with the launch of a new incentive and strapline: ‘It pays to party.’ 

At Head Office, the team are busy little elves getting staff recognition gifts together and filling goody bags with all the information our top consultants and managers will need following the big Christmas launch next Wednesday [19 August 2009].

So, if you don’t want to see 850 wildly excited women in one place, then you may or may not wish to avoid the Sofitel Hotel, Heathrow Terminal 5, next week.

You can catch up on Ros’s previous posts from our Entrepreneur’s Diary series, in which we follow a male and a female CEO to discover what life is like behind the scenes of their business.