Oct 30, 2009 6:29 pm US/Central
Retail Woes Have Christmas Creeping Up Earlier
Some Stores Begin Big Holiday Sales Before Halloween
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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At the Macy's store on State Street, Christmas displays were already up before Halloween in 2009.
CBS
You might have noticed that retailers are not even finished hawking Halloween goods yet, but holiday wares are already creeping onto store shelves. As CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports, the so-called "Christmas Creep" is shaping up to be a real retail race this year.
The lights have been strung and the windows have been decorated. The only problem is, it's still October and all of the December holidays are still six to eight weeks away.
So, why the rush on the holiday flair and sales? Retail expert Alex Sotereanos-Sneed with Chicago's McMillan|Doolittle says the reason is simple, "retailers basically want to capture the consumer dollar before that consumer's budget is spent."
That means consumers can expect to see more specials, better deals, and longer business hours to accommodate more shoppers. Some retailers like Sears and Wal-Mart have even moved up their Black Friday sales.
Sears launched its first on Friday – a day before Halloween and almost a month before the traditional Black Friday on the day after Thanksgiving.
Retail experts said moving up Black Friday sales sends a clear message.
"It tells you that retailers are desperate to get customers in the door," said Sotereanos-Sneed. "There are a lot of specials. There are a lot of incentives."
So far, customers have liked what they're seeing.
"The more savings people can get, the better," said Thomas Bambara as he walked out of Sears, shopping bag in hand.
Over at Macy's, shopper Mattie Malone couldn't be happier about getting a jump on her holiday shopping. "I love that. I just love it. Spending money, using credit cards; I think it's nice," Malone said.
Experts said that's exactly what retailers want to hear in this tough economy, and why the "Christmas Creep" might just continue creeping further back on the calendar.
"They're all trying to get out there earlier to get ahead of the pack, to get in front of the game," said Sotereanos-Sneed.
That suits some shoppers just fine.
"We're going to call it Christmas presents because it's not in the budget just to buy for fun right now," said Pam Volk, who added that the Christmas trees in the windows at Macy's helped her to justify her newly purchased items as "Christmas presents," and not just impulse buys.
Some shoppers, including Malone, said they wouldn't mind if the holiday shopping season started even earlier. How early? Malone said she'd be fine with seeing Easter items come off the shelves only to be replaced with Christmas stuff.
Others, including young Claire Volk who was shopping with her mother, said the holiday shift is a bit confusing. "I think it's kind of weird that they're already putting stuff in the windows for Christmas because it hasn't even been Halloween yet," she said.
Now it's not all good news for consumers. Industry experts said many retailers are cutting back on their inventory this holiday season for two reasons.
One, they're concerned about cash flow within the company.
Two, they don't want to get stuck with a lot of left-over holiday inventory.
So, they say said the bottom line was that the deals are out there, but shoppers might need to snatch them up before they're all gone.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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