Buy one holiday, get one free?

Wandering around my local supermarket at the weekend it struck me that although we are still not out of October, we are firmly in the holiday season.

Shelves lined with Halloween goodies (thanks USA for that one) are finding Christmas offers slowly shoehorned into them. Ready to take over entirely on the stroke of midnight on 1st November.

A great example of this festive line-blurring can be seen at the Halloween costume pop-up store Spirit Halloween who have just announced that it will be converting some of its outlets into Christmas stores and keeping them open for the winter holidays. The retail pop-up chain, owned by mall stalwart Spencer Gifts, usually taps into the Halloween spending season, but this year it is also looking to capture Christmas sales.

So, is this Christmas ‘creep’ part of a long-term solution to blur the lines of festive holidays to drive short-term sales bumps? Arguably yes, it can become a cycle that retailers count on to pad their season's profits. Having both Halloween and Christmas goods on display at the same time triggers a subconscious cue for physical availability. Consumers aren't just reminded that the holidays are coming up they also feel they can keep going back for more.

And although many feel negatively about the onslaught of holiday goods, data shows they like to shop early. A study by consumer research company NRF's showed around 43% of holiday shoppers generally start buying before November.

The quick transition between Halloween and Christmas is also about retail display space. Brands often pay retailers for prime locations in-store, displays that become their brand real estate. This allows them to keep the holiday spirit flowing without interruption ensuring a steady stream of sales. It also allows retailers to quickly refresh their store displays and maintain sales volumes.

So will we see the ‘holiday’ season being pushed back further? As the market gets more saturated around the time of the holiday season, perhaps the only way to beat the competition is to start your promotional drive earlier?

Experts are divided. Some say it could be pulled forward to the start of October. This would give retailers better control of their supply chains, and show consumers what’s on offer at an earlier junction, to make better informed decisions.

On the other hand this blurring of the lines doesn’t necessarily allow consumers to get a full experience of either festive occasion. Marketing and merchandising teams are always trying to optimise their activity and blurring the thematics makes this increasingly hard to do.

Ultimately the tactic seems to work but in the long-term it will be the consumer who decides. Do people want to pull the Christmas feeling forward to get them through the winter months and are they happy to let brands ring their sleigh bells at this time of year?

Kieran Lynch