Harrogate Christmas & Gift show: Hall B, Stand B18
With exciting new licensing deals with Coca-Cola and The Smiley Company among the wealth of festive and gifting ranges they’re bringing to Harrogate, the Benross team can’t wait for Christmas & Gift. CinJ spoke to Benross’ Amit Juneja…
How long has Benross Marketing been trading, and what’s the story behind the company?
We have been trading for 26 years now. My father took over Benross in 1999 when it went into trouble, and since then the business has undergone many changes, however Christmas has always been an important part of the business
You offer a massive breadth of product across categories, but how important is Christmas to that offering?
We used to have over 5,000 products, but now it’s more like 1,600. Christmas and gifting is still the biggest part of the business, doing over £10 million.
The business has two main categories. There’s myself heading up seasonal and gifting, and Adam Freeman our senior brand manager on the household goods side where we offer iconic names such as Black & Decker in bins and laundry, Polaroid batteries as well as our own SDA brand Quest.
You have established a base in China, do you work exclusively with a lot of factories there? How much of an impact does this have on your festive product portfolio?
We have an office in Ningbo, where most of Christmas products do come from. It’s so important to us to have people on the ground there for sourcing but mainly for quality control, ensuring we work with the best factories. I go out several times during the year, and even lived in the Far East for a year in my early twenties so am very familiar with that side of the world.
Your showroom is in Liverpool – are you inundated with buyer visits with Christmas retail in mind?
With the onset of zoom and teams the showroom visits are less than what I remember before Covid. Personally, I still feel coming to the showroom and seeing everything, making those small changes is still the best way to do your festive buying. We have a wonderful showroom and are down the road from Liverpool Airport so have great transport links.
You offer festive lighting, artificial trees and decorations – what have been some of your bestsellers for Christmas 2025 and what product looks set to fly for Christmas 2026?
Infinity mirrored lighting still seem to be the best-selling items of the new ranges, and although we have seen a rush of new colours, warm white is still by far the favoured colour of LED lights people want. We have some other new lines where we simply did not buy enough so we look forward to sharing those with our customers at Harrogate.
What trends are standing out for next Christmas – in terms of tree selection, lighting and also colour fashions for decorations?
Over the last decade we have been through pink, black and white trees but I think we are back to a more traditional look now. That’s my personal preference anyway, and if your artificial tree can look almost real, I think that’s the secret.
What ranges will you be showcasing at Harrogate?
We are delighted to be bringing to life our Coca-Cola Christmas ranges, with the famous cola santa, polar bear, trucks and train. I’m sure it will spark the festive spirit to retailers and their customers. We will also of course bring our own the Christmas Workshop new launches and Global Gizmos new ranges of gifts and gadgets.
We’ve been showing at Harrogate for over 15 years. For me it’s the only place to showcase Christmas, and I’ve not met anyone who doesn’t love the town, its people and restaurants. We haven’t shown at Spring Fair for a few years now, but we are available for meetings and some specials in the Holiday Inn hotel during the NEC show.
You’re also taking Halloween ranges to the show – what you can tell us about the collections you’ll be exhibiting for buyers?
We do a select range of Halloween and Autumnal décor of the best sellers we feel no one should be without. Autumn décor has become bigger and bigger, with Halloween now a clearly important fixture for households with children.
How important are licensing collaborations for Benross?
Licensing is about 30% of our sales so yes, very important for us, and it is listed with some of the greatest retailers in the world such as Tesco, and Costco. A blend of OEM and licenses is what every retailer should have, it gives confidence to customers, and that something different when someone wants it.
What can you tell us about new licensing deals with Coca-Cola and The Smiley Company?
In Coca-Cola we have festive décor and lights and novelty gifting. The response so far has been Great and we can’t wait to show the Harrogate faithful. The Smiley Company has huge collabs with some great companies so we are delighted to be able to bring exciting products such as night lights, lava lamps and more to our customers.
Finally, what does Christmas mean to you personally?
Well with two young children Christmas has an even more special meaning to me now as they are still believers and it is a magical time of the year. It means lots of warm food, theatre trips and nights out with friends. Also, fun fact, I proposed to my wife on Christmas day!
For more information visit: www.benross.com
