A trade show in the summer, a notebook and a guess
It is a hot day at a trade show, and you are standing at a supplier's stand looking at their Christmas range. Last year you had their ceramic decorations. Did they sell out? You think the robins went early and the snowmen were still on the shelf in the January sale. How many did you order? Somewhere around a box of each, maybe two.
You place an order based on that, and on how the new range feels. Multiply that by dozens of suppliers across a couple of shows, and the shop's whole Christmas is bought on memory.
The information exists, just not where you need it
Your till records every sale. The problem is that it reports by day and by product, not in the way you think when buying: by supplier, by range and by how quickly things sold before Christmas.
- Seasonal lines change names and codes each year.
- Sell-out dates are not recorded, only sales.
- Leftovers sold off in January look like sales in the reports.
- What you ordered lives in supplier invoices, not the till.
- At the show, you have a phone and no time to run reports.
The cost of buying on memory
Buying too much leaves stock that is sold off cheaply in January or packed away for next year, tying up cash through the quiet months. Buying too little of the lines that flew leaves empty shelves in the first weeks of December, which is when a gift shop makes much of its year.
Both happen at once in most shops, which is why the January sale rail and the 'sorry, sold out' conversation often feature the same supplier.
How we build a buying sheet from your own sales
- We pull your till sales history for the last one or two Christmas seasons, and match seasonal lines to their supplier and range, even where codes changed.
- Supplier invoices or your purchase records are matched in, so each line shows what you bought as well as what you sold.
- For each line we show when it sold out, if it did, and how much was left at your chosen cut-off date, split between full price sales and markdown.
- Lines are grouped by supplier, so at a trade show you can open that supplier's page and see last year at a glance.
- You can add notes, such as 'robins went in early December, double next year', and they stay with the supplier for next time.
- As you place orders at shows, you record them on the same sheet, so you can see your total Christmas buy building up against last year.
| Line | Bought | Sold before Christmas | Sold out | Left at cut-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceramic robins | Ordered quantity | All | Early December | None |
| Ceramic snowmen | Ordered quantity | Most | No | A few, sold in January |
| Advent calendars | Ordered quantity | Most | Mid December | A handful |
The sheet shows what happened, and the buying decisions stay yours. New ranges, trends and your own eye for what will sell are not things a report replaces.
Buying season with the sheet
At the show, you open the supplier's page on your phone and see last year's lines, quantities and outcomes. You order more of what sold out early and less of what ended up on the sale rail. Your running total tells you whether you are spending more or less than last year, before the season starts, not after.
In January, the sheet updates with how this Christmas went, ready for next year.
Does this sound like your Christmas buying?
- You order Christmas stock at trade shows from memory.
- You are not sure which lines sold out and when.
- The same suppliers fill both your sold out list and your sale rail.
- You only know your total Christmas spend when the invoices arrive.
- Till reports do not match the way you think about buying.