Hay Hampers enjoyed its best ever Christmas trading. The luxury gift company welcomed an influx of shoppers from other upmarket rivals, helping sales rise 15 per cent on last year’s festive season.

The week before Christmas was Hay Hampers’ busiest-ever, with particularly strong sales of premium ranges.

Gabriele Da Re, Managing Director at Hay Hampers, said:

“In our 35th birthday year, we are thrilled to announce that 2019 was our best ever Christmas in an extremely difficult and competitive marketplace, with retail news looking quite grim for many. Sales were particularly impressive for our large luxury gifts, our very festive hampers, and our gourmet Italian boxes”.

Hay Hampers sold enough bottles of wine, Champagne and Prosecco to allow 135,000 toasts of ‘Cheers’ to sound out during December – the equivalent of every single inhabitant of Cambridge. They also sold 25,000 mince pies and nearly 5 tonnes of cheese, which corresponds to the weight of a medium-sized elephant.

Gabriele Da Re hailed the collective commitment, energy and enthusiasm of Hay Hampers’ staff over the Christmas period:

“With all our other key performance indicators such as customer satisfaction, damage and conversion also impressing, I would like to thank our staff for the hard work. Likewise, my appreciation goes to our new and loyal customers for their support. Now we are ready to drive forward into the ‘year of the vision’ with enthusiasm and the spring in our step that this festive season has given us”.

Hay Hampers’ rapid growth has seen it take a significant 3 per cent market share of the UK hamper market, placing the company among the foremost best hamper companies in the UK. The broadly positive results come at a crucial time for the industry, which has been facing a host of headwinds including uncertainty due to Brexit, price increases and fierce competition.