You’re Too Late…Christmas Already Started

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By: Aaron Whitaker

It seems like every year, the Christmas or holiday shopping season starts earlier and earlier. While most people would guess that it starts the day after Thanksgiving, aka “Black Friday,” it’s actually started much earlier this year. So if you or your clients haven’t kicked off your holiday marketing and advertising plan, you may want to hurry up before you’re left in the dust.

One of the biggest online ecommerce sites, Amazon.com, kicked off their holiday shopping marketing plan on November 1 with their Black Friday page. While Black Friday is still 15 days away, Amazon is offering their popular Lighting Deals every day throughout the day. The next sign that I noticed that said the holiday shopping season had started already was when this past Sunday’s paper was stuffed with holiday shopping ads. These inserts from local retailers featured pages and pages of toys and video games that apparently my son and daughter must have or it will be the end of the world as they know it. As an advertiser, I have to appreciate the insight of advertising toys in newspaper inserts because there’s a good chance kids will see the glossy inserts and plead to their parents that they want that toy and that one and definitely that one. As a parent, I hate toy store newspaper inserts as much as I hate the candy shelves at the grocery store checkout lanes.

Another indication that the holiday shopping season had begun already came when I received an email from Best Buy allowing me to have a sneak peek at their Black Friday deals. Of course, I had to click on the link and check out the Door Buster deals and see if there was anything that I wanted, needed, or just had to have. As an adult male, I have to say that the electronic store inserts are just as dangerous as the toy store inserts for my kids. I don’t need a new camera or a new TV or a new computer, but our year-old ones don’t have that cool new thing-a-ma-jig that makes the new ones so much better.

The last indicator that the holiday season has most definitely begun was when one of my ecommerce clients had a noticeable bump in sales the day after Election Day. I think most of America was so focused on the elections that once they were over, they were able to focus on the next big event in the calendar year: the holidays and the holiday shopping season. I think half of America was happy yesterday because of the results and were shopping to celebrate, while the other half was a little depressed and shopping to feel better. For retailers, it was a win-win election for shopping and hopefully the sales will continue throughout the holiday season.

So if you haven’t kicked off your holiday advertising and marketing plan yet, you may want to do it now. Americans are now focused and getting in the holiday mood. It seemed like November 1 was the unofficial kick-off date this year, but I could easily see the day after Halloween being the official kick-off next year. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the day after Halloween becomes the new Black Friday shopping day in the future.

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About the Author

Aaron Whitaker is a copywriter, blogger, and social media aficionado who likes watching the TV commercials more than the actual shows. He prefers reading the magazine ads over the articles. And you can learn more about him online right here.

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