Sainsbury’s puts Christmas on ice, John Lewis pulls out the stops at its company Christmas dinner and Amazon customers get more than they bargain for. 

Have Uke-self a merry little Christmas

John Lewis may have won the Christmas advertising war in years past but this season it pulled out all the stops as its very own ukulele band entertained head office partners at their company Christmas dinner.

Amid the turkey and Brussels sprouts, the Ukes of Hazard provided entertainment as partners indulged in a game of pass-the-parcel, ultimately won by a lucky member of the pensions team.

But the Ukes aren’t just for Christmas. As well as entertaining partners at their festive shindigs, they can be found playing in John Lewis’ reception every Thursday.

Retail Week isn’t sure which partners make up the Ukes of Hazard but can imagine that Sir Charlie Mayfield and operations director Dino Rocos would make a beautiful duet.

Amazon: What you see is what you get

There’s no danger of Amazon misleading customers.

Evidently, its site shows shoppers exactly what they are getting. 

But one customer got a bit of a shock when the item they ordered wasn’t quite what they were expecting. 

A Twitter storm ensued after they posted an image of what actually arrived… 

Amazon pillow check out

No, of course that’s not a model demonstrating how the dinosaur pillowcase works; the child is part of the pillowcase print. 

Sainsbury’s puts Christmas on ice 

Many of the grocers are finding interesting ways to leverage excess space – installing shop-in-shops in their superstores to sweat their assets. But has Sainsbury’s taken it a step too far? 

One BBC journalist spotted a particularly innovative use of space at one Sainsbury’s store, where an end-of-aisle fridge had been used to display Christmas cards and wrapping. 

As James Clarke said, Sainsbury’s must be feeling “chilled” about the festive period this year. 

Sainsburys christmas tweet