Let the festive numbers games begin.

(From Off Licence News)

Last year, about this time, I wrote about the crucial importance of Christmas to the drinks trade. Given that the festive season is rapidly approaching, I thought it appropriate to look at last year's article again. The idea was to see if my comments then are still relevant, given Christmas 2006 and the dreadful non-summer this year.

Seasonal sales peak at Easter (be it early or late), Whitsun, summer and crucially Christmas and New Year. The latter is the ultimate sales period, impacting on marketing, production, distribution (logistics), retail, wholesale and sales volumes, and finally, profits.

As a result, even more planning goes into Christmas than ever.

Failure to plan for the core festive season market, means sales budgets and annual profits can be shot to shreds, especially if stock is not in retail outlets at the crucial times.

It is interesting, therefore, to look quickly at some statistics from our Scan*Track service from Nov/Dec 2006. This information outlines the degree to which Christmas/New Year is either the icing on the cake or the break period of the year for drinks suppliers and drinks retailers' sales volumes and profits.

Of course, the Christmas break in 2007 will not have the same peaks as the 2006 season.