We chat to John Lewis buyer Lisa Rutherford on her top sellers for the festive season.
Emoji, Star Wars, sentiment brands and word-based properties are all likely to remain strong through the Christmas period, according to John Lewis.
Lisa Rutherford, buyer for greeting cards, wrapping, stationery and seasonal events at the retailer, also identified brands with ‘integrity’ as being ones to watch when we caught up with her at the Licensing Awards product judging day.
Lisa commented: “I sense emoji will be big for the second half of this year as it has such broad appeal across a wide age group.
“Star Wars will have another big Christmas – we dabbled with it at the premium end, such as with limited edition fountain pens retailing at £395 and they flew out, so more growth there.”
She continued: “Sentiment and word-based properties and brands are strong and likely to remain so. Happy Jackson is still the best example of this, but Kate Spade is another one.
“I do feel that brands that are perceived as ‘meaningful’ with integrity, such as Emma Bridgewater, Peter Rabbit and Alice in Wonderland will continue to be well received in the current climate.”
This feature originally appeared in the autumn edition of Licensing Source Book. Click here to read the full publication.
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