businessinfomag.uk
magazine
28
Don’t forget your employees this Christmas, says PCWorld Business
Christmas might be months away but
retailers are already offering their
predictions for the top gifts of 2016,
including Currys PCWorld, whose
Christmas in July event offered a
sneak preview of this year’s must-
have gizmos, from laptops, wearables
and e-readers to blenders, kettles and
fridges.
According to PCWorld Business,
Currys PCWorld’s business channel,
tech products don’t just make great gifts
for your nearest and dearest; they are
also an effective way to reward staff for
the hard work they have put in over the
previous 12 months and to say thank
you to key partners and customers.
Simon Moyle, head of business
solutions for PCWorld Business, told
Business Info
that more and more
businesses are choosing to give tech
products as corporate gifts.
“It’s getting bigger every year, I think
because employers are more aware that
if you give money or a bottle of wine
or chocolates it just disappears; no-one
remembers it. Giving something to
somebody that they can have fun with
and interact with, like a Polaroid Cube+
action camera, has a longer-lasting
impact. Every time you pick up that
camera, you remember,” he said.
Personal touch
To help customers choose wisely, Currys
PCWorld has produced a gift guide
with recommendations for different
personality types and price points.
PCWorld Business does sell gift
cards, but Moyle says picking out a
personal gift for each recipient shows
more thought. If you can’t decide what
to give, he suggests taking a leaf out of
Sky’s book and providing a selection of
products for employees to choose from.
“We’ve managed Sky’s rewards
programme for the last few years.We
put together a package of different
products – small kitchen appliances,
fitness products, tech products, whatever
– and employees get to choose from
that selection. It’s not prescriptive, it’s
not one item, and it keeps the cost down
for the client as they don’t have to buy
stock and sit on it,” he said.
Key strengths
This approach also plays to Currys PC
World’s key strengths – the breadth
and variety of its product range and its
logistics expertise.
Moyle points out that unlike some
providers, Currys PCWorld has the
Get giving
resources and network in place for home
delivery, high volume orders and a fast
turnaround time. “What we have found
is that a lot of businesses buy a product
and then have to get it to the end user
themselves. But we can do all of that
really easily and fairly cheaply as well.
Even if they can get the product for the
same price elsewhere, getting it to an
end user will be substantially cheaper if
they do it through us.”
Another attraction of using PCWorld,
says Commercial Manager SimonWillies,
is the quality of its customer service.
“There are
distributors that we
compete against, but
a distributor is only
good at getting
a box from A
to B. They can’t
manage all the
customer service
elements and all the
interaction with the
customer that comes with
that. As a retailer we are used to dealing
with the end customer; it’s a big part
of what we do,” he said.
It may feel too early to think about
Christmas, but Moyle says now is
the perfect time to start working out
reward budgets and gift ideas. “A lot of
SMEs will leave it to the last minute –
they’ll start receiving gifts and suddenly
think ‘I’d better give them’. But, really,
the earlier you get started the better.”
One of Moyle’s top
picks, the Google
Chromecast turns
an ordinary TV into
a smart TV. It sits in
the £30-£40 price
range, which Moyle
says is how much
many employers
expect to spend on
gifts/rewards for
employees.
Simon Moyle,
head of business
solutions,
PCWorld Business
Incentives
Fitbit fitness trackers
have been among
the top gifts for
the last year
or two and
Currys PC
World expects
the £99.99
Fitbit Alta to
be a popular
reward again
this year.
For a longer-lasting impression, consider
something like the Polaroid Cube+ action
camera instead of chocolates or flowers.
