The clocks have gone back, we've been tricked or treated and this weekend The Brooks Centre is putting up its Christmas decorations. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

For nearly all retailers including Your Life your style, Christmas is the make or break time of year. It's a bit like the theatre industry in which I used to work, where the pantomime is what keeps most theatres going. The main difference is that it takes huge talent to lose money on pantomime provided you get the price and marketing right whereas in retail, you not only have to nail those two slippery challenges, you have to choose the right products in the right quantities. Get it wrong and you're either cursing that you could have sold more or looking forward to a big January sale.

The biggest problem is, what sold last year is no longer fashionable this year- unlike panto, where the recycling the stars of yesteryear makes it more akin to a Halloween tale of the living dead than Christmas entertainment. So, for all of us retailers, it's a very expensive stab in the dark based on experience and instinct.

Will our new collectable bathtime ducks, lead crystal glasses and handmade soaps ring the tills? If you see me in a new car in January, the news is good. If I'm opening up the boot of my old car and offering cheap gifts...

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here