No summer vacation for Santa this year. “Christmas creep,” the phenomenon whereby retailers launch holiday promotions ever earlier, “is expected to kick into overdrive this year,” reports Reuters. First out of the gate among major retailers is Sears Holdings Corp., which has opened Christmas shops at 372 Sears stores and a “Christmas Lane” at both Sears.com and Kmart.com. Next up is Toys “R” Us, which will run a weeklong “Christmas in July” sale that promises “affordable and fun gifts at prices usually expected during the holiday shopping season.” It even includes a two-hour in-store event that will have children making Christmas cards, playing games and getting candy canes.
“They’re trying to get to the consumer before they run out of money,” retail analyst Marshal Cohen told American Public Media’s Kai Ryssdal. It’s a dubious strategy, as Cohen pointed out, considering that most consumers are buying only as much as they need right now: “Retailers have been continually, over the last few years, heading in this direction of trying to get the consumer to spend earlier and out of season, and that is something the consumer is clearly telling us they don’t want to do.”
There will surely be a heated battle for share of wallet this holiday season, but launching the fight months in advance is unlikely to win contenders any clear advantage.
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