Printed Carrier Bags - Planning ahead for Christmas

It may still be sunny outside, but the summer sun means many brands are now starting the daunting task of preparing for the holiday season.

The holidays are a busy time for retail, fashion, homeware, hospitality and food & confectionery. Businesses up and down the country are preparing for another hectic winter season. It’s all for good reason; retail sales in the UK last year amounted to a lucrative £88 billion. It’s a giant pie that everyone wants a slice of.

Succeeding during the holiday season is all about prep. Gone are the days where Christmas started in December, and businesses even get their Christmas stock out and Christmas campaigns started before the first howls of Halloween. Brands in the UK begin their Christmas lead-up in October, maybe September and sometimes earlier, and that means preparation has to start early. Once the air starts to cool, you know Christmas is on the way.

It's not just Christmas Day that brands are planning for anymore. It’s black Friday, cyber Monday, Fireworks Night, December Christmas Parties, Secret Santas, Boxing Day and the January Sales. All of these holiday events and festivities bring their own opportunities for different brands and products, and all require their own dedicated preparation.

Stocking up

The Bank of England estimates that households in the UK spend 29% more in December than in a typical month.

Despite the mad rush of consumerism during December, there’s a sustained change in shopping habits that start as we go into the later months of the year. Gen Z consumers will mostly have their shopping wrapped up by early November, with Baby Boomers more likely to continue to shop into December. Consumers like to prepare ahead, which means your business needs to be ready to meet demand.

Printed carrier bags are essential to brands looking to make the most of this period. Research suggested that in 2024, 43% of consumers said they would mostly complete their festive shopping in-store, with just 26% saying they would complete it online. There may have been a cataclysmic shift towards online shopping in the past 10 years, but there’s something about the festive season that gets consumers shopping in-store. The theming and experience are key, with 36% of consumers more likely to purchase if their in-store experience was positive. Interestingly, this isn’t just a trend for older generations, in fact, Gen Z are the generation most likely to shop in-store.

Printed carrier bags are all about extending your positive shopping experience, ensuring it continues long after your customers leave the store. With the right look and feel, a shopping bag becomes a gift bag, improving the experience and extending your product’s overall value proposition. Preparing in advance to get your holiday branding & design locked down means you can stock up on bags well in advance of the winter season.

With increased demand, you’re going to need to stock up on bags to ensure you can sustain business through the busy period. The most cost-effective way to achieve this is through a larger order, taking advantage of the quantity savings. We recommend this because it’s truly the cheapest way for businesses, big and small, to both successfully operate during the holiday season and achieve significant and impressive cost savings for the long term. A bulk order of your printed bags can save hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds. Our stock holding service also makes this incredibly cost-effective, meaning you don’t need to store your bags and can simply release stock when it’s needed.

Printed Bags for the whole season

Christmas shopping accelerates, starting mainly in early November and peaking just before the big day. If it was graphed out, it would be a steady slope with individual peaks throughout the last two months of the year. Those peaks are black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Gone are the days where brands are focussing sustained campaigns around Christmas, it’s now about getting customers to spend on these discount holidays. What was once an American consumerist trend has now sailed its way across the Atlantic, hammering shoppers with deals and savings on potential Christmas gift items.

Online shopping dominates during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and we highly recommend that brands taking advantage of these avenues to consider branded mailing bags. These provide a fantastic custom mailing packaging for your products and are an effective marketing tool. With a surge in users utilising online channels to find their black Friday deals, it’s imperative that you plan ahead and create your own printed mailing bags.