BedfordBID is helping town centre businesses keep shoppers merry this Christmas with a Customer Care training event.

Levy-payers joined a a special seminar run by experts Shopper Anonymous on October 14th when they learned how to better unwrap seasonal spending power.

“Last year £24.5 Billion was spent in the lead up to Christmas, with the average person spending £468,” said experienced retailer Graham Hill at an earlier BedfordBID breakfast at The Park Inn, Bedford,

“While about 30% of shopping is now on-line, that still means that 70% is people actually visiting businesses like those in Bedford town centre.’

The training day included advice on the importance of the shop window to bring people through the door.

In late November there will be a series of “secret shopper” visits to those businesses who took park in the training and there will be a prize for the best Christmas window display.

In addition those same businesses will be invited to an overall feedback session in January to help them keep customers coming back in 2017.

Said Christina Rowe Director of BedfordBID: “We worked with Shopper Anonymous a few years ago with some considerable success for those businesses who embraced the constructive criticisms. Those are the businesses that are still with us today. BedfordBID is about supporting the sustainability of businesses, new is nice, but people come back to places who value their custom.

“We want to make Christmas something really special this year.”