When Should You Implement Your Christmas Window Display?

With Christmas just around the corner, it's time for retailers to gear up with festive decorations for their stores. During this busy season, you want to grab customers’ attention and attract them to your store. 

One age-old method for achieving this is by creating a magical Christmas window display. But in today’s world, where most people shop online, is it still worth it? And if so, when is the right time to implement a window display? Find out all this and more from homeware wholesaler, Adventa, below. 

Timing is everything. Having said that, pinpointing an optimal time for retailers to put up their Christmas window displays is a little tricky. Generally, the decision will depend on what other retailers around you are doing. In some areas, stores begin decorating their windows as early as September, whilst others wait until the last week of November. 

The decision depends solely on your own goals and capabilities. If you’re looking to grab the attention of your customers and entice them to purchase your products, then perhaps you should implement your Christmas displays sooner rather than later. This will certainly remind them that Christmas is just around the corner and that they need to get their festive season shopping going. 

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that you will need to make some changes to your Christmas window display over the coming months, especially if you put it up early on. Otherwise, customers passing your store may become accustomed to your Christmas display. 

In today’s digital age, you might be wondering whether having a Christmas window display is still an effective way to market your merchandise. 

Macy’s, the renowned US retailer, was the first to create a Christmas-themed window display all the way back in the 1870s. Since then, window displays have become bigger and better. While over a century and a half may have passed since the first one, window displays are still seen as effective festive season marketing tools today, with research indicating that these window displays influence 24% of purchases in the festive season. 

Christmas is, in itself, a religious celebration of the birth of Jesus. While this may be the reason for its existence, today, Christmas has become so much more and is enjoyed by many non-Christians. Despite this, it's generally recommended that you leave religion out of your marketing efforts on the whole. 

Before you go and start hanging baubles and putting up mini Christmas trees willy-nilly, you need to plan out your display. Factors such as available space and budget will all impact your display. 

A good Christmas window tells a story, and it invites the customer to come and look at it. You can easily reference scenes or stories that customers will know well, such as Santa placing gifts under the tree. Of course, you could go the extra mile and use characters from TV series, movies, or books if you like. 

Think about the eye level. This will depend on the type of customer you’re trying to attract. If you’re a store selling children's items, you want the display to be at their eye level so it grabs their attention. For adults, you’ll want to keep the focal point of your display at about eye level. However, it’s always important to create balance by including items at other levels. 

Lighting, lighting, lighting. We cannot stress this enough-there’s no point in creating a beautiful Christmas window and then having dull lighting, as this won’t grab the attention of customers. 

Don’t follow tradition. It’s very easy to get lost in the crowd if you follow the safe options. Don’t go for typical Christmas window ideas, but rather try something out of the box and surprising. 

Lastly, you should try to keep your display window fresh by making small changes to it often. This will ensure that the window display continues to grab the attention of customers passing your store—even those who have seen it a few times already. 

When it comes to Christmas windows, some retailers go all out, creating magical festive displays. Now, pinpointing the top Christmas windows of all time would be no easy task. However, there are some select retailers from across the world who never fail to leave the public in awe. 

Founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge and brought to London in 1909, Selfridges' window displays are never short of surprising. From winter wonderlands to controversial and artistic Christmas scenes, you will never not enjoy Selfridges Christmas windows. 

Located in Knightsbridge, this retailer sure knows how to transform its window displays. In 2021, they transformed their store by installing modern stained glass panels designed with Christmas symbols such as baubles and trees. 

Combining luxury with tradition, Harrods simply never fails to leave passersby in awe. Not only do they create their own visual feasts, but they also invite some of their top brands, such as Tiffany & Co. and Miu Miu, to contribute to the window displays too. Harrods also never fails to keep things current. Just this past Christmas, they had QR codes on several of their windows, which allowed visitors to watch the Christmas displays come to life using AR, filters, and other animations. 

Outside of the UK, we have one of the most beautiful department stores in Paris, and perhaps the world. The Christmas window displays always tell a magical and creative story, such as their 2015 theme, A Christmas From Another Planet, which featured robots, Jedi, R2D2, and Stormtroopers. 

Of course, a list of top Christmas window displays simply wouldn’t be complete without the retailer who started it all. You’ll never cease to be amazed at Macy’s flagship store in New York City. 

The festive season is an excellent time to ramp up your marketing efforts and get in those extra sales. One great way of achieving this is to put up Christmas window displays. Now, you can choose whenever you’d like to do this; however, it’s best not to wait too late into the festive season. 

When it comes to creating a Christmas window display that stands out, it’s always important to make it unique and to focus on factors that will help grab customers' attention, such as lighting and the eye level of objects.