Christmas in the Store: What to Order and When

Christmas is the season that decides the year for a gift shop, and it's also the one where most mistakes are made: people buy late, they buy everything at once, and in January they're left with boxes of decorations that won't be useful in eleven months. Below are the numbers for the 2025 season in our stores—that is, based on actual receipts, not estimates—and how we derive our order calendar from them. The rule in short: first order by the end of October, restocking at the beginning of December.

Christmas starts in November, not December

In our stores, Christmas isn't even among the best-selling departments in October: October is Halloween month. As soon as Halloween is over, the scene changes. Of the Christmas items sold between November and Christmas Eve, about a third came out in November and two thirds from December 1st to 24thThis means two things. First, the Christmas shelves must be ready by early November, otherwise a third of the season will be lost. Second, December weighs twice as much as November, so the store must arrive still full.

Not just decorations: what goes into your shopping cart at Christmas

Between mid-November and Christmas Eve, the Christmas section was the biggest grosser in our stores, by a wide margin. But it was immediately followed by other sections that had little to do with Christmas: sweets and snacks, stationery, gadgets and games, home and kitchen, winter clothing, accessories and lightsIt's the small gift, under €10, bought in bulk for colleagues, classmates, and relatives. For a store, this means that at Christmas, it's not just the decoration corner that gets filled: it also reinforces everyday categories that become gifts and are placed near the checkout.

Gift wrapping is a separate department

In the same period we counted Over 21,000 receipts with paper, bags, ribbons, or gift boxesMore than six out of every ten receipts include a Christmas item. They're penny-worth items, but in December they're more popular than anything else and easily add to the bill. Those who keep them at the register sell them; those who forget them see them purchased elsewhere. This also applies to those who don't package them in-store: the customer will look for the bag anyway.

How we divide the order

The method we use on our shelves is two-step. First order by the end of October, designed for November: the decorations you see in the shop window, the small gifts in series and the gift wrapping. Restocking in the first week of December, only on the pieces that were sold in November: that's where the bulk of the season is played out. With a minimum order of €150 + VAT and shipping to Italy in 48/72 hours, the second order is inexpensive and arrives on time. Buying everything in October, however, means guessing on empty shelves; waiting until December for the first order means missing out on November.

What to do in January

Unsold Christmas items aren't merchandise to be resold the following year: they're capital tied up for eleven months. After Epiphany, what's left is discounted and space is cleared for Valentine's Day. This is also why December restocking must be limited, focusing on items that have already proven to sell.

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