Macy’s Inc. put up its “Holiday Lane” Christmas decor shop at its Chicago flagship on Sept. 9. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cut prices on its “top 12 toys for Christmas” on Oct. 1. And L.L. Bean launched its first-ever online holiday gift shop on Monday.
With the crucial months of November and December accounting for as much as 25 percent of a retailer’s annual sales, it is little wonder that retailers are doing their best to stretch out the season. Yet some retail experts are starting to question the strategy, worried that stores are resorting to early holiday start dates to make up for an industry-wide outbreak of bland merchandise and ho-hum service.
“Hesitation Holiday” is what Marshal Cohen, chief industry expert at the Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group Inc., calls it. Retailers are pushing holiday sales earlier, but consumers are shopping even later, he said. Without a “must-have” item or stellar shopping experience, consumers wait for a deal. And without a steady stream of shoppers throughout the holidays, that means impulse buying, once a big driver of holiday sales, is waning.
Extending the season, then, is one of the few options for retailers hoping to draw traffic.
“We have to recognize that part of the sluggishness of the consumers isn’t just the economy. The industry isn’t doing enough to get the consumer excited,” said Cohen.
Forty-one percent of shoppers will start their holiday shopping after Thanksgiving, compared to 31 percent last year, according to NPD's annual survey of consumers’ holiday purchase intentions. Likewise, impulse purchases accounted for 26 percent of holiday sales no long ago. In 2006 that figure dropped to 19 percent and this year “we’ll be lucky to hit 17 percent,” Cohen said.
Retailers, for their part, say they are responding to consumer demand.
“Many of our customers thank us for setting up early,” said Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski in an e-mail, adding that some prefer to beat the crowds and others are looking for decorating ideas.
But who wants to think about red flannel pajamas, forest green wool sweaters and shearling slippers when it is 80 degrees outside?
L.L. Bean thinks its customers do. The preppy outdoor direct merchant began hinting at holiday merchandise in its late August catalog. The official holiday catalog was mailed in September; to further spark consumers to buy, L.L. Bean is offering free shipping through Dec. 21.
“It keeps the company top of mind with consumers,” said Carolyn Beem, a spokeswoman for the Freeport, Maine-based company. “Maybe they don’t order today, but they do think of L.L. Bean for holiday shopping.”
The National Retail Federation reported in its own holiday shopper survey that about 40 percent of shoppers begin holiday shopping before Halloween.
The Washington D.C.-based retail trade group is expected to report also that U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $817 on holiday-related shopping and another $107 on themselves this holiday. The combined budget is a 3.7 percent increase over last year and in line with the group’s earlier forecast.
Last month, the NRF forecast holiday sales will rise 4.0 percent to $474.5 million in November and December, the slowest holiday sales growth since 2002 when sales rose 1.3 percent. The figure is lower than the 4.8 percent average of the past decade.
— Sandra M. Jones
Chicago Tribune
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