Retailers Urge Customers To Start Holiday Shopping Before Summer Ends – Forbes Advisor

Many students are just heading back to school, and Halloween is still two months away.  But Christmas lights, reindeer wrapping paper and mounds of new toys are already appearing in store aisles and on popular retail sites, as the Christmas shopping season creeps forward into August.

Retail analysts say the idea is to get people to shop early and often, even as consumers grapple with high inflation, rising housing costs and the return of student loan payments in October after a three-year, pandemic-related moratorium.

“The holiday [shopping season] has become clearly the most important period for a retailer,” says Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor for Circana, a consumer insights firm. So merchants figure,“‘Why not extend it and make it have a longer life?’” Cohen says.

Longer Shopping Season May Mean ‘Buy Now, Pain Later’

Analysts say shoppers may be more likely to overspend as they spread their purchases over an extended period.

“It hurts a lot when you take it out of your wallet today,” says Joel Davis, executive director of the David F. Miller Retail Center at the University of Florida’s business school. “But if I spent it a month, or two months, or three months ago, I don’t feel that pain anymore. It’s long gone.”

That pain might resurface later, however, for consumers who have trouble paying off those purchases. Americans’ credit card debt shot past the $1 trillion mark earlier this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

A new Forbes Advisor survey conducted by OnePoll found that almost one-fifth of Americans with at least one credit card are not confident that they will be able to pay off their credit card bills by the next due date. And 46% of people polled said they were unsure of, or did not know, the annual percentage rate (APR) for their credit card. If you can’t pay off your entire balance each month, the interest on the unpaid amount will be added to your bill; the higher the APR, the more you’ll owe.

You can lower that cost, and have all of your hard-earned payment go toward the principal, if you use a 0% APR credit card. Some balance-transfer credit cards offer an introductory 0% rate.

Why Are Retailers Pushing Holiday Merchandise So Early?

When it comes to certain categories of merchandise, retailers are competing for the same dollars, so each of them wants to strike first, Davis notes. With outdoor Christmas decorations, for example, “there’s only so many of those things I can put on my lawn,” he says.

Merchants also acknowledge that some shoppers may be more reluctant to spend this year.

Home improvement chain Lowe’s began offering its line of holiday decor online in July, the earliest it has ever done so, according to a company spokesperson. “We are finding holiday shoppers are spreading their spending, so we’ve made our curated selection available now with more to come later,” brand communications manager MJ Wilson said in an email.

Meanwhile, Walmart trumpeted its annual Top Toys List this week. In a news release, it emphasized popular toys for $25 or less, saying its deals could help customers plan ahead and save money.

A Christmas shopping season that begins in August may also deal the final blow to Black Friday as we’ve come to know it, with consumers lining up in the dark to rush into the stores at midnight or 4 a.m.

Black Friday has become watered down over the past few years, moving away from its reputation as a “single hectic death-match, winner-take-all tournament for toys,” according to Davis.

“There is still consumer excitement around the savings, but they are available over the course of a week or more and with many more options to buy,” he said in an email.

There’s one more reason we’re seeing such an early holiday shopping season, says Cohen. Retailers may be trying to get rid of merchandise that didn’t sell last year, and a longer buying period may help. But he acknowledges that the strategy could backfire as customers return to the store closer to Christmas and see the same items for sale that were on display months earlier.

“You wouldn’t buy two-week-old bread, and you’re not likely going to buy six-month-old sweaters,” Cohen says.