With each year that passes we all seem to feel that retail Christmas creeps just a little bit further ahead stretching the season for all it’s worth. But here’s the thing I can’t quite grasp. People will Christmas/Hanukah/Insert-Holiday-Celebration-here shop regardless of when you do or don’t start the festivities.
A veteran of retail sales, I can tell you I am almost
completely immune to the charms of Christmas carols, unless they became popular
after 1993 and that I have a healthy antipathy of the mall during December. Let’s just say I’m a big fan of order it and
pick it up at the store options, letting me get in and out fast. A quick trip to the liquor store and I’m
content to head home and enjoy the holidays that way.
A colleague who has started her own online store asked me
what my opinion about when to start talking about the holidays on her
site. I suggest 4 to 5 weeks before her
last day to ship, which puts us pretty close to now. And this is where I see both sides of the argument;
5 to 6 weeks is about what is needed to be successful at a season in retail and
like it or not that puts Christmas pretty much immediately, like the-next-day
immediately, after Halloween. And in
order to do that well, a retailer has to put stock out with Halloween. However I do concur that going to Metro on
October 31st and finding a giant Christmas tree made of soda cases,
wearing a red hat, was off-putting.
SDM did a survey via their twitter feed asking when people
thought it was a best time to start the caroling and December first was the
consensus. I was a little surprised, I
suggested November 23rd figuring it was a month prior to the holiday
and so a decent interval, although, as mentioned above, I’m somewhat
immune.
I guess what I’m trying to say dear retailer, is that they
will come faithfully. So stop trying to
shove it down our throats quite so early.
