When Christmas helps drive up sales

Christmas is peak season for consumer demand for food, drink and gifts. Almost all types of business benefit in one way or another during the festive period, but certain industries will be working especially hard over these key dates. All those who make a living as producers of crafts, food and drink and decorative items have been preparing for the Christmas sales campaign for months to respond to the volume of orders that they hope will shoot up at this time of year.

So it is for Dehesa Monteros, a local family business in the mountains of the Serranía de Ronda, where they produce high-quality Iberian pork and ham products from their own pigs. "It is a unique environment, where the purest and most select breeds of pig adapt to the rugged mountain pastures of the Serranía de Ronda, which in turn favour the pastures themselves, the animals' own well-being and the final quality of the product," said José Simón, part of the management team running the company.

In total they produce meat from around 1,000 pigs annually, pigs that have been reared on these pastures and fed on chestnuts and acorns. The company then looks to sell these 100% certified, acorn-fed Iberian products, targeting these top-of-the-range products at the high-end market.

Luxury hotels, the gourmet shop at El Corte Inglés and corporate Christmas hampers are where these products would typically be found. "If we normally invoice the same volume every month, in November and December we will multiply that by two and even by three," Simón added.

Neither are the big spenders at this time of year only their large retail clients or corporates but also "this is the peak season for private customers, those who buy online and we receive numerous orders from them." In addition, 20% of their sales go as exports to Europe and Asia.

We cannot talk about Christmas without mentioning companies like La Antequerana, one of the oldest in Andalucía, a manufacturer of those sweet, crumbly biscuits and sweet treats known as 'polvorones' and 'mantecados', which are not only the company's main focus at Christmas, but rather that Christmas is pretty much the reason for the company's existence.

"As manufacturers of Christmas sweets, this season represents the most important period of the year for our company, since production is concentrated around the preceding five months, during which a large part of the annual turnover is at stake," said a company spokesperson, also pointing out that they have a "loyal clientele which grows year after year". Added to that is La Antequerana café, on Calle Merecillas in the town of Antequera, which helps "sustain and grow our business".

Focused on a customer who values traditional and high-quality products above all, most of La Antequerana's sales stay in Spain, sold by specialist shops, gourmet food stores and delicatessens, but "never in large stores or in high-volume areas". They also sell their products online via their own website with a free, 48-hour-express -delivery service and they export to several European neighbours such as Germany, Italy, France and Belgium.

Another company that is working hard for the festive season is Viveros Guzmán garden centre in Alhaurín de la Torre. Its manager, Andrés Guzmán, explained that this is because the company has been able to adapt to the changes over time.

"Years ago Christmas was a very good time for nurseries, then it fell away because the sale of real Christmas trees stopped, and the poinsettia, which was also the flowering houseplant that sold the most, began to be available everywhere," he explains.

In response to this the company decided to adapt its garden centre in Alhaurín. In preparation for Christmas it sets up a large Christmas-themed shop there with seasonal plants and a multitude of decorations, and people come from all over to visit the displays.

"We were pioneers in this area. In Spain it was normal to find a shop like this in a shopping centre, but not in a garden centre, although it is typical in France, Holland and other parts of Europe."

Thanks to direct sales to the public in the Christmas shop and partly to an increase in orders from local councils to decorate the streets more for the festivities, the company has seen its turnover increase at Christmas by around 20%. For them Christmas is a good time of year for doing business, although springtime is still their best and most profitable season.

If we talk about actual turnover percentages at Christmas, one of the highest figures is achieved by Mediterráneo Art, a small business located in Mijas and managed by craftworker Humildad Ríos, who works with wood.

She mainly makes and decorates kitchen items like chopping and serving boards and platters along with salad bowls, plates and even lamps with recycled olive wood.

"At this time of year demand increases significantly, especially for kitchen-to-table serving boards, to dish up cold meats or any other food on Christmas tables," explains Ríos, who also tells us that sales at this time of year represent 80% of total annual sales for her business.

Mediterráneo Art sells its products via its own website, directly at a shared, coworking workshop and studio in Puerta del Ágora in Mijas, and in various craft markets around Malaga province.

In the case of this artisan's work schedule, she starts preparing for Christmas in September. "The Spanish buy at the last minute, but the British and Americans start planning gifts and details at that time. From September to December I produce only with Christmas in mind," she said. She adds that her clientele tends to be middle-aged and her discerning customers value "unique, respectful and handmade pieces" and can come from any part of the world. "I have already sold to all continents," said Ríos.

Organisation and planning ahead of time to ensure that nothing goes wrong once Christmas is coming is something that is in the DNA of all these companies. At La Antequerana they start in May, planning their orders for the raw materials and packaging that they are going to use.

Then they start off with some low-key, low volume production in August. By mid-September they begin to manufacture nonstop, "based on previous years' figures, knowing that each year's sales campaign is different, but it serves as a guide."

"We're buying for Christmas in January," said the manager of Viveros Guzmán, who points out that one festive season has not yet finished and yet they are already purchasing items for the next one.

"Plants need six months of cultivation in our hands and the decorations also require manufacture and transport times."