On Sunday, The Value Engineers were delighted to be asked to contribute to a regular LBC radio show, hosted by the lovely Kay Burley.

Lou Ellerton joined Kay to talk about the post-Christmas retail surge, as consumers flocked to London’s Oxford Street, Westfield and shopping centres around the country to make the most of the sales.

Leading department store John Lewis announced a record start to its online sale which began on Christmas Eve, with hourly orders up 70% on last year, while Selfridges took in more than £1.5 million in its first hour of trading on Boxing Day. The story was no different online, with UK internet users making 84 million visits to retail websites on Christmas Eve and 107 million visits on Christmas Day, up 86% and 71% respectively compared to the same days in December 2011.

So what’s the story behind the surge? In Lou’s view, much of it can be boiled down to a metamorphosis by UK consumers into strategic shoppers – or ‘stroppers’, for short.

Now well trained by the major retailers to expect heavy discounts in the week immediately before and after the 25th, ‘stroppers’ are spending less on presents to unwrap on Christmas Day – focusing on smaller, more intimate gifts that show thought in place of the big-budget purchases of Christmases past – leaving them able to take advantage of discounts for the key family purchases.

While the post-Christmas sales boom will have come as welcome news to retailers beleaguered by poor pre-Christmas figures, the Olympics downturn and stormy weather, it remains to be seen whether tills will have taken enough to keep them from suffering as we head into another year of economic uncertainty. Either way, we’ll be keeping our ears open for more signs of the stropping phenomenon…

Sadly, we’re unable to post a copy of the interview here due to size constraints, but if you’d like to hear Lou’s comments or find out more about stropping, drop us a line.

Diesel mixed magic and psychology this season to help a group of young guys and girls reveal those true Christmas morning feelings they used to experience when they were little kids.

The brand launched the Magic of Christmas promotion on its website, where it has posted three videos starring young Diesel fans who were hypnotized to act like they were 5 years old again. Believe it or not, all the reactions in the videos are real.

Read all about it here.

A boozy gift!

The age-old supermarket wars are at full throttle in the run-up to Christmas, with deals being done on everything you could possibly need (or absolutely not need) during the festive period.

Take the pricing of spirits: Tesco has put many 70cl bottles at £14, whilst Morrissons has priced similar brands at £15 per litre. However, with talk of new alcohol pricing laws, this may be one of the last chances supermarkets will have to lure us in with such offers – a thought that will doubtless cause panic for many on New Year’s Eve, and relief to many on New Year’s Day…

…a little red box.

And it is from within this little red box that a magical fairytale unfolds.

It is a unique tale of breathtaking snow leopards with glacial eyes, immaculately tailored clockwork soldiers, exquisite red silk ribbons and jewels fit only for a snow queen.

This magical fairytale could only ever be the dream world of Cartier.

And though this little red box may never appear under my own Christmas tree, I will always be grateful that for a rather dreamy extended moment spent gazing up at this magnificent building, I am whisked into a world that has made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside – and that, for me, is what Christmas is all about!

…A 5m-high advent calendar made up of more than 60,000 LEGO bricks, as it happens.

With the news ringing in our ears that the world’s largest advent calendar had gone on display this week in London’s Covent Garden, courtesy of LEGO, we decided it was time to introduce our own Christmas countdown.

Sadly, we haven’t been able to discover a means of enclosing a chocolate behind each post, but for the next 22 days, we’ll be giving you The Value Engineers’ very own take on the advent, with our round-up of the best Christmas news, stories and themes.

So to kick off the festivities, we wanted to raise a glass of eggnog to LEGO – the perennial favourite of our Director of Deviancy, Giles, but also one of the companies that’s been leading the way in innovative kids’ marketing and positioning throughout 2012. It’s only fitting that they’ve rounded off the year with a festive greeting that builds on (pun thoroughly intended) their position – a fun, playful, construction-led brand that provides something for kids and adults alike to return to, again and again.