AMT Public

2008 South East Market Town Awards Overall Winner and Business & Economy Category Winner

The run-up to Christmas ought to mean business is booming for shopkeepers, but in Hythe they found that footfall in the town on Saturdays in December had fallen dramatically.

Summary:

Hythe looked for a ‘unique selling proposition (USP)’ to give added value to shoppers that the towns and cities did not provide – and to do it at low cost – the local partnership came up with the idea of using snow machines to create a ‘blizzard’ on every Saturday afternoon in December.

Snow machines were purchased by 15 individual businesses around Hythe at a cost of £130 each. The project created a lot of media interest and brought in visitors from far afield and particularly people with young families. People said it made them feel ‘Christmassy’ and the cafés and pubs reported an increase in sales of hot chocolate and mulled wine! Footfall increased dramatically and most shops reported a significant increase in sales during that period. All reported pleasure at the ‘buzz’ created in the town and there was an increased interested in joining the Waterside Business Partnership.

There are plans to increase the number of machines and have more seasonal activities around the town on these Saturdays to make Hythe a visitor destination as opposed to a shopping destination during December. The approach is to create the environment to encourage people to spend more rather than do a more obvious ‘hard sell’ of Christmas product.

The delivery of the project was simple. Shops signed up to the project by agreeing to purchase a machine, the machines were ordered and distributed and at the appointed time the machines were started, creating a wonderland in the village. Media coverage included a live TV weather report!

More information: Helen Owers (Helen.owers@btconnect.com) Tel: 023 80841411 Ext 208

2009 update from Helen Owers: The Snow in Hythe definitely helped what could potentially have been a disastrous December, most businesses reported a slow start to the month but ended with sales up on the previous year. It brought new visitors from other towns in the New Forest and this is valuable as, with the current economic climate, we are expecting more Friends And Family Visitors to the New Forest this year, hopefully winter customers will remember Hythe and bring them for a visit!

All in all most businesses reported that December was not as bad as they had expected it to be and, additionally more of them can see that events that don’t cost a lot do increase footfall so they are starting to organise further events themselves. One trader even said to me at the end of January, ‘Recession, what recession? I’ve never been so busy’.

Press link:

http://www.hythe-hants.org.uk/News_Weather/2008/July/Snow_Days_in_Hythe.html

Video links are here to news bulletins:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=A1EKZ0O2fVI

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mEUy4WX6nGY&feature=related

Key partners: Waterside Business Partnership and RevitalHythe.

Keywords: promotion of local shopping, town branding and marketing, special events