Christmas seems to arrive earlier every year – and in some places more than others.

Last week, Selfridges sparked debate by opening its festive shop in London a full 124 days before the big day.

The iconic Oxford Street department store - which sees shoppers flock to its Christmas shop each year in their droves - has already introduced a taster of its festive offering at the height of summer, complete now with an early Christmas food collection. 

Whether you feel it’s too soon to be thinking about chestnuts roasting on an open fire, or you think it’s never too soon to start planning the perfect festive season, you can’t deny it’s an interesting experiment – and one that Scottish retailers will no doubt be monitoring.

I’m sure they will be watching closely to see the how the results of the enhanced early offering stack up in pounds and pence. I would imagine Christmas might just come early to Selfridges.

It was also with the retail sector in mind that I eagerly awaited the latest Retail Index for Scotland figures, which were published last week, providing an insight into sales north of the border from April to June.

The report showed that annual sales were up 1.6 per cent. So too was the value of sales up by 1.4 per cent for the quarter and by almost four per cent for the year.

At face value, these seemed tentatively positive results for our retailers against a backdrop of general economic uncertainty and one of the wettest Junes on record.

Apparently bolstering the results were strong food sales. 

One success story of the Scottish food and drinks industry in 2017 has been Scottish stalwart AG Barr, which confirmed last week that it has put in a strong performance in the six months to 29 July, with its new products Irn Bru Xtra and Rubicon Spring selling well across retail outlets.

Like Selfridges, this is one brand pushing the envelope to keep its audiences engaged.

However, Scottish retailers seem to be faring worse than their UK counterparts.

The Retail Index also revealed that sales growth has been slower in Scotland than in the UK overall in the second quarter and year-on-year.

Volumes of sales in the UK grew more than 1.5 per cent in the three months to the end of June, and at a rate of more than 2.5 per cent annually. Likewise, sales values in the UK were up 1.6 per cent and 5.6 per cent annually.

With a quarter of a million Scots working in the retail sector, I’m sure this discrepancy is raising many a political eyebrow.

And concerns have been raised too over increasing food and drink prices across the board, leaving consumers and non-food retailers feeling the pinch.

So it’s perhaps best to digest the latest results with a degree of caution. Growth is good, but action might be needed to fuel the sector for the longer term.

 

SIDE

Wonder Woman has taken the accolade of being the highest-grossing live action film by a female director, and it’s made for an interesting counterpoint to the ongoing gender salaries row.

The Hollywood flick, which stars Israeli actress Gal Gadot-Varsano, had made an incredible $800m worldwide by the end of July and is the third highest ever grossing Warner Bros movie at the US box office.

The media giant behind the film, Time Warner, said the movie helped them achieve a second quarter rise in revenue of 11.6% to £1.1bn.

The company also owns HBO, which is home to hit fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, where female star Emilia Clarke is poised to unleash herself on the Seven Kingdoms as the indomitable ‘mother-of-dragons’ Daenerys Targaryen – and the show was also lauded for its contribution to boosting profits.

So there is certainly something to be said for the pull of strong female lead characters.

It’s ironic then that the film and TV show are racking up such big followings on these shores against a sustained outcry over gender pay issues.

I also read with interest last week that the enforcement of the wearing of high heels in the workplace could be set for another challenge as research from Aberdeen University shows it can cause health issues.

Attempts were made earlier this year to introduce a law banning companies from insisting that women wear high heels in the workplace, but they were rejected by the government.

I can imagine Wonder Woman’s reaction if Superman tried to send her home from the Justice League because her heels weren’t high enough, and I’m pretty sure Daenerys’ fire-breathing dragons would soon incinerate any such notions.

Perhaps it’s time for a re-think across the country’s offices too.

 

LAUGH

Apparently the Church of England is ditching collection plates and trialling contactless card payments instead.

Some larger churches south of the border will have static terminals which parishioners can tap on the way past, while other smaller congregations will have handheld machines passed around.

Churchgoers will be able to choose between three donation amounts.

A spokesman said the move would appeal to people who were unlikely to carry cash, or to younger churchgoers.

They are also hopeful of utilising the systems at weddings and christenings – when presumably the gathered congregation might be a bit more generous.

Now with Scots supposedly being notoriously stingy, I wonder whether the Church of Scotland will consider a switch to contactless – perhaps it’s a chance to roll-out iPray?

 

WEEP

I was saddened to read of the millions of couples who are supposedly staying in unhappy relationships in an effort to get on the property ladder.

A report by L&C Mortgages found 1.8million were prepared to tough it out because the shared income allowed them to buy a home.

They found people stayed with their partner to be able to afford a mortgage or deposit for more than a year longer than they would have, if buying a property wasn’t in the equation.

Large deposits and shared incomes for mortgages were two of the main reasons.

Remember folks, you can’t put a price on happiness and there is no home like a happy home. Life is too short – and a nice, cosy bachelor or bachelorette pad isn’t so bad!