For seven of the of the past 10 years I’ve written a pre-Christmas shopping list for SmartCompany and for every one of those 10 years, an Apple product has been on the list. Don’t worry it’s here, it’s just not at number one.
With just four weeks to go, here are my tips for the top 10 Christmas items. In true 2017 Christmas fashion, all of the items below can be bought with two fingers and a thumb from your smartphone, whilst commuting on a bus or train, or stuck in city traffic.
If you live in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, admit it: the traffic congestion is killing you, one day at a time. The road laws allow lane splitting, so get a motor bike or scooter. Or get a cross between the two with this small, retro “monkey bike” looking thing. It’s also available in Candy Ultimate Pink.
I thought Roomba was a cute vacuum cleaner but apparently, it’s a “series of turtle class autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners sold by iRobot.” I love turtles, so one that cleans my house while I’m out sounds like a good idea.
‘Me time’ for men is increasingly spent in a park, at a beach or just in a large backyard. The low price and high quality of the latest RC boys toys means these are not just high priced specialist items, but available for gift giving too.
Support Dare Jennings and his team as he now has extra money from suave and fashion-savvy Italians to help him grow the brand faster. It always fills me with pride to walk through a US or European city and see guys wearing Deus. You can buy online, but go to a store if you can. It’s a great experience.
High quality head gear isn’t going away. Sony’s bluetooth headphones seemed to have lurched to the front of the pack over the past 12 months so they must be doing something right.
Ladies, please support Camilla Franks, her team and her new bub. The stores are stunning, staff are well-trained and the range is now truly wide and beautiful. It’s not a kaftan store anymore; it’s an Australian fashion icon. Yep, this is another example of a great Aussie brand that fills me with pride whenever I travel overseas and see ladies wearing Camilla. And like Deus, a visit to her stores is always a great experience.
When my toothbrush says I’ve done a good job cleaning my teeth with an emoji smiley face, I’m won over. It also feels like it’ll clean your teeth as well as the shiny parts on your motor bike, pretty much forever!
A decade on, the two new iPhones really are so good you’ll spend up big on one or two of them. On June 29, 2007 a man called Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone and they just keep getting better. Starting at $1,000 for a base 8 model up to $2,000 for a loaded X (Ten), they will sell out.
Life is just going to get a lot easier with voice recognition in most of our homes. Shop, turn off the lights, listen to music and set your alarm.
Other than the number and value of items we will buy in our grocery shopping, we’ll buy more items from Amazon than any other source. Why? Because by the time Christmas arrives, Amazon will stock over 600 million items worldwide. And after all Christmas shopping is about choice.
Happy shopping!
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Kevin Moore is a retail expert and the chairman of Crossmark Asia Pacific Holdings and Now Comms Group. He is also an independent director of Australian fintech company InvestSMART.
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