Now that Halloween is over, people are starting to prepare their Thanksgiving and Christmas plans for the end of the year, but stores are already two months ahead of schedule.
We’ve all seen stores like Walmart, Dollar Tree, and Big Lots put up their Christmas decorations next to their Halloween section, even though it is a few months earlier than expected. This makes many of us ask ourselves: Why is there Christmas stuff being put up when Halloween just ended? Well, apparently there are a couple of explanations for this phenomenon.
The main reason for this sales tactic is, who would’ve guessed, money.
Most stores put up their holiday decorations ahead of time because they hope people will begin their holiday shopping early to take advantage of sales based on their budgets. According to Newsweek, “‘Holidays are emotional to consumers, the earlier brands can remind consumers that this product or service is a fabulous gift for friends and family the more likely we will sell it,’ Smith continued. ‘Christmas products and decorations create an emotional reaction and a behavioral reminder that shopping and splurging is ok. It, essentially, promotes spending.’”
Brands typically use this sales tactic to persuade consumers to start buying supplies and presents early, so that when the holidays finally come around, they won’t have to worry about struggling to find what they need. Parents may use this advantage to buy their children toys or to buy supplies for wrapping gifts without fear of them being sold out.
This reason also connects to the fact that small retailers hope to make a good amount of profit from their decoration sales before bigger retail corporations can take advantage of the holiday season.
According to Zak Stambor, a senior retail and ecommerce analyst for CNN Business, “Every retailer is in a battle to grab as large a share as they can. That includes Amazon, which has pushed the holiday shopping season earlier than ever thanks to the launch of its Prime Early Access sales” he said. “Those events have pushed other retailers to roll out their holiday merchandise earlier than ever to ensure that they don’t lose sales to the retail giant.”
Another reason stores do this is because they put out certain yearly sales based on the results of the previous years. Retailers plan out their inventory placement in advance to best fit with what time of year holiday sales are the most popular. The main point of this tactic is to connect with a section of shoppers that plan out their yearly budget to be able to afford their holiday supplies.
So, while it can be slightly annoying to see all those Christmas decorations and sales coming up so early in the year, it is just because the store is following sales tactics to be able to better suit those who have already planned on buying their Christmas supplies early.
