The Seasonal Planner – Winter Edition
Welcome to another edition of the Simply Seasonal Product Planner! Your quickfire guide to finding the latest and greatest seasonal products to appeal to the consumer, at the right time. This is all about great planning and offering our stockists and retailers proactive solutions to keep their stock on track, on-trend and flying off the shelves.
Working in the supply chain and retail requires us all to work many months ahead of what is happening right now. Many of our clients work with a minimum of 6 months lead time. So, we hope these examples, ideas and inspiration have come at the perfect time as you plan your winter and festive stock! This is all about understanding the marketplace, noticing the trends and preparing for how you want the season to look for you.
This is a common theme for those in retail, right? As consumers are setting their sights on summer holidays and enjoying the great outdoors, those in retail have their minds firmly focused on festive spending and winter nights! What a weird world we work in!
For Drivers
In the middle of winter, many drivers are on the lookout for great value, reliable items to keep them on the road, and keep them safe when driving.
You need to be stocking a good range of car bulbs, and DIY headlight restoration kits to get drivers back behind the wheel, have full visibility in those darker days, and enable them to fix those pesky lights themselves. Additionally, we stock a specific range of winter car care products such as car/motorcycle covers as well as frost cover and dehumidifiers, that many drivers will be shopping for to keep their vehicles safe and protected.
We’ve all had those drives. When the rain is coming down so fast, and so hard, visibility is reduced. These drives are all about taking it slow, staying focused and ensuring you have reliable, high-quality wipers to keep visibility as best you can. Our Universal Flat Wiper Blades are silent, aerodynamic and easy to install.
And, after a long day on the road, it’s safe to say the car won’t be looking its finest, thanks to grit, mud, ice and snow! But, with our range of seat covers and car mats, the interior can stay looking and feeling fresh. And for those brave enough to brace the elements to give the exterior a quick clean, our range of Simply Auto cleaning essentials can do the job in no time.
A great solution for drivers is to create a ‘winter car care box’ with a collection of handy items to keep them safe during winter. Spare bulbs, scrapers and warning triangles (as well as a spare bottle of water, coat and socks) can be incredibly handy and offer peace of mind on long winter journeys, should any breakdowns or traffic jams occur. Air compressors are also a great addition to the box as colder temperatures reduce air pressure in tyres and they may need regular inflation.
Having a set of battery chargers and/or jump starters is extremely useful during the colder months, as car batteries become more unreliable. Many car batteries hold their charge using a liquid electrolyte solution and this solution is affected by temperature. Although it takes extremely low temperatures to cause the battery to freeze, cold conditions can reduce the electrolyte solution's ability to transfer full power.
Of course, you may be inclined to simply replace the car battery yourself to avoid any further hiccups. Our Simply tools range has a few products to help you along the way including our 36-piece ratchet screwdriver set or our 12-piece ½ metric sleeve set. And for specifically changing a car battery, you’ll never go wrong with our new 11-piece spanner set.
For Fitness
As everyone indulges in the delights of the festive period, many consumers turn their attention to the desire to feel healthier, fitter and more active in the new year. This is a great time to develop some eye-catching displays around health and fitness. This isn’t about guilt-tripping, it’s about offering opportunities and solutions to try something new and boost mental and physical well-being as winter takes its hold.
Check out our foldable treadmill! It’s perfect for any size home as it easily folds away. Or, for spinning fans, our exercise bike is brilliant value and available in a range of colours. Have you heard of the hula-hooping trend? There are thousands of videos online for people to follow and join this trend in the comfort of their own homes with their own weighted hula hoop! It’s harder than it looks, but great for core strength and cardio.
But what else do we see as hot products for the winter season?
Winter bugs are at the forefront of everyone’s minds throughout the season. Keeping safe and protected is a key priority, so check out our whole Simply Sanitize range here.
Keeping warm is a hot topic amongst consumers and our air cooler, heater, humidifier and fan are not only great for heating up the room you’re in, but they can be used all year round with its handy multi-functional use! A fan to keep you cool in summer and a heater to warm you up in winter! Or if you’re more of a fan of getting cosy, you can check out our ultra-soft, machine-washable heated blanket.
And of course, everyone is getting excited and organised for the festive season! We are proud of our ever-expanding range of toys that make fantastic value stocking fillers. Plus our Simply Living kitchen appliances have proved highly popular with our stockists so far (especially the air-fryer! The hot trend continues!)
So there you have it! Our winter essentials guide to help you with ordering your winter stock! Get in touch with our team to find out more and plan for the winter season.
