Does it seem as if our annual holiday seasons come earlier each year? That’s because they do!
No sooner is Halloween over, for example, then the march to Christmas begins. We basically glide over Thanksgiving and gun our engines on Black Friday to catch the holiday sales. Christmas lights are already up. Trees are decorated. The Spirit Halloween store has already morphed into The Spirit Christmas store.
The early start to the holiday season is known in merchandising as Christmas creep and refers to the sense that the holiday season is gradually lengthening, beginning earlier each year, typically in early fall, Newsweek reports. That’s a long way from a retail season that once began with Black Friday.
But the main reason for the creep, according to the magazine, is that because the Christmas holiday period is the busiest time of the year for retailers and other businesses, they naturally want to stretch it out.
“Demand rockets and they (businesses) need to prepare many months in advance,” Alex Monaghan, CEO of payment provider Miconex North America, told Newsweek. “It’s never too early for a brand, a business or a downtown to prepare for the holidays.”
Feeling like it’s too soon for any holiday can be a function of how we generally perceive time as we age. Research suggests that our brain’s internal clock runs more slowly as we get older, so the pace of life is speedier, according to reporting on the website Inc.
Another theory is that the perceived passing of time is related to the amount of new information we absorb, Inc. notes. When we’re young, everything seems new, so our brains have more to process, and the perceived passage of time feels longer. It’s the opposite as we get older.
A theory explained by Forbes is that amidst our daily pressures and hurried routines, the holidays offer a rare reprieve that we naturally want to last longer. And retailers are happy to ride to the rescue with traditions that evoke the season, including versions of the products we regularly buy. Think gingerbread squares at Trader Joe’s, or the holiday coffee menu at Starbucks.
Retailers may also evoke the holiday spirit, Forbes reports, with irresistible limited-edition products and special packaging. All of these entail an escape for the public just when they might need it.
“Holidays are emotional to consumers,” retail expert Andrew Smith told Newsweek. “Christmas products and decorations create an emotional reaction and a behavioral reminder that shopping and splurging is ok. It essentially promotes spending.”
And that’s good for retailers. This year’s holiday shopping is expected to increase from 2.5 to 3.5% over last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Consumers were expected to shell out between $979.5 and $989 billion this month and in December, compared with $955.6 billion during the same time last year.
“When it comes to the holiday season, we know there are a number of holidays and family events and things that Americans prioritize and save for all year long,'” federation president and CEO Matthew Shay explained to USA Today.
“These are important emotional connections, and that always creates an extra bit of demand because people have prepared for this, saved for this and are looking forward to this.”
Merry Christmas creep.
