Interview: Christmas Bonus

Christmas is a crucial time for retailers, and ethical businesses are set to enjoy their most successful festive season ever. Barney Jeffries talks to Nigel Berman of Nigel's Eco Store about Christmas gifts that don't cost the earth.

How important is Christmas to your business?

It's incredibly important. We're a retail business, and this is the one time of year when everyone has to go out and buy something. Last year was our first real Christmas, and we weren't quite prepared for how busy it was.

How have sales been this year?

We're 50% up on last year. It was a slow start this year. Things didn't really kick off till the middle of October, but since then it's been staggering. We've all been absolutely flat out processing orders, and have taken on another member of staff to cope with the demand. If we could add more products we would do.

What have you done to promote yourself this Christmas?

We've created some banner ads, and have been pushing it in our press releases. There's a strong Christmas focus to our homepage. We've got suggestions for Christmas gifts, Christmas things like cards and decorations, and an article with top tips for an eco-friendly Christmas.

What are your top three Christmas gifts?

Number one would have to be the Paperpod Rocket Play House — a sustainable cardboard rocket for kids to play in, which is proving really popular.

Then there's the eco-staplers — staplers which don't use staples — which are a great stocking filler. It's been estimated that if every office worker in the UK used just one less staple a day, it would save 72 tonnes of metal.

Our eco decorations are also very popular — particularly the recycled circuit boards, cut into shapes like Christmas trees, bells and stars, which would otherwise be going to landfill.

What other suggestions do you have for a green Christmas?

The most important one is really boring, but make sure your house is properly insulated — we still waste so much energy through uninsulated roofs and windows. Don't leave the fairy lights on — of course people want to have lights on the Christmas tree, but there's no point leaving them on when nobody's around to see them, is there?

Christmas also creates so much waste, and we need to try to cut down on that — sending recycled cards or e-cards, cutting down on packaging, recycling as much as possible. 

Is there a danger that businesses trying to curb the wastefulness and excessive consumption of Christmas will be seen as Scrooge-like killjoys?

I don't think that's really a problem. Everybody's aware of the problem of climate change. So ethical and eco-friendly Christmas shopping can actually be a very positive experience which gives people that feel good factor.

Read Nigel's Top Ten Tips for a Green Christmas at www.nigelsecostore.com