Making
an Early Start to Christmas Shopping
Many radio
stations have started playing Christmas songs so
early in
November in the past few years that one wonders if
we may soon start hearing Christmas songs around
Halloween time. That would be a bit weird, even
creepy perhaps. But some early Christmas shoppers
likely will have Christmas Carols silently playing
in their heads even before then.
That's because shopping, much like Santa Claus, is a
staple of Christmas.
Santa never gives away any secrets to shopping for
all those gifts, but he must certainly have a
strategy to be so successful every Yuletide season.
The early Christmas shopper is someone who is very
organized and has a strategy to fulfill Christmas
shopping before the season kicks into high gear.
The day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday,
is the official retail start to a shopping season
that is always hoped to be a robust one. The
strategy of retailers is to advertise Christmas
sales, specials, pre-Christmas markdowns, giveaways,
special-hour sales and other promotions. The reason
for the frenzy of retail advertising during
Christmas season is because it is the single biggest
shopping time of the year. Christmas shopping that
begins the day after Thanksgiving accounts for well
over half - with some estimates of up to 70% --
of annual revenue for stores.
Since retailers clearly have a strategy for
Christmas shoppers seeking the perfect gift, then
shoppers also need to implement their own strategy.
The savvy and early Christmas shopper is the one who
may start silently singing Christmas Carols and
songs very early to get in gear for shopping.
Starting from as early as the beginning of October,
the early Christmas shopper can begin to make lists
of gifts and begin browsing to check the
availability, variety, and most important, the price
of items.
By browsing before the Christmas shopping season
officially kicks off, the early Christmas shopper is
more likely to get more bargains, better prices, and
is also better able to do comparison shopping when
the season officially kicks off.
It's important to know that retailers won't offer
true 'rock bottom' or
'close-out' sales, or the very lowest prices during
Christmas sales. It's also important to remember
that retailers are likely to offer earlier sales
starting in early October to near mid-November.
Two significant pre-Christmas sales are for Columbus
Day, which falls on Monday, Oct. 9, and Veterans
Day, which will be on Saturday Nov. 11. The early
Christmas shopper who already has gifts in mind can
benefit from price markdowns during both sales
periods. And of course the early Christmas shopper
will also have the benefit of shopping during the
season, therefore extending the thrill and joy of
shopping.
If there is any disadvantage to being an early
Christmas shopper and doing Christmas shopping very
early, it is that some retailers, particularly
makers and sellers of toys, wait until the official
start of the season to introduce some new items into
stores. The strategy in doing this is to build
anticipation for a new toy that they hope will be
very popular and to also target and capture a larger
majority of shoppers.
During every Christmas season there always is one,
or maybe two toys, that are regarded as the
'must-have' toys for Christmas. And it has become a
present-day phenomenon for shoppers to arrive from
the wee hours in the morning to get a prime spot
near the doors of some stores so that they can be
among the first in those stores to make a mad dash
for the 'hot' toy of the season.
But being doing or starting Christmas shopping early
does not mean that it has to be over before the
Christmas shopping season starts. What it means is
that most or a significant part of your shopping
will be done by the time Black Friday rolls around.
What is most important to making an early start to
your Christmas shopping is to get the best deal and
to do so with as little hassle as possible, by
avoiding a crowded store for example. Both of those
will be accomplished for those who are organized and
motivated to get into the spirit of Christmas before
the season really begins.