Since Woolworths closed it has done some of its best business, in the reselling of Woolworths uniforms and other memorabilia on eBay. Items collecting top bids include the soft toy version of the store’s promotional sheep ‘Wooly’, unhung copies of the Woolworths closing down posters, and clothing. A staff T-shirt attracted six bids within two hours and was sold for £21 and a skirt attained a price of £31. Strangest of all, staff name badges have been selling for up to £12 each.  It’s a lesson worth remembering – promotional items may have more value in years to come than any of us can imagine. If you provide promotional material to your staff, make sure you tuck a pristine T-shirt and badge or un-blown-up balloon into a special ‘heritage’ drawer because who knows, in a few years time, you could be auctioning your promotional memorabilia for a fortune.

In terms of business, profit and market share, there was a 26% surge in online shopping in November. Notable growth areas were shoes and accessories which is probably related to buying for the Christmas party season, they rose by a whopping 32% and 108% respectively. The growth in sales of clothes was 18%. This makes clear that consumers are using the internet to make more informed buying decisions. A piece of evidence that supports this view is that since 1 December, the search term “discount vouchers” has risen by 94% according to Google Insights. Online retailers are using the power of the freebie or BOGG to promote their sales and are much savvier about thanking their customers than high street retailers – recent promotional thank-yous given by online retailers include branded post-it pads, logo-bearing T-shirts for customers spending over £50, and branded biscuits, all of which have been slipped into the packaging to surprise and delight the customer when they unwrap their purchase.