While some of us haven’t yet gotten all the beach sand out of shoes or pulled out the fall blankets, there are 34 million people out there who are already in the holiday spirit and have started shopping.
There are still 87 shopping days left before Christmas, but according to CreditCards.com, plenty of people are wasting no time in getting a jump on the shopping competition.
But if the idea of heading out now to buy gifts for people long before December makes you laugh, you aren’t alone.
“Most Americans are annoyed by these overachievers,” said Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com’s senior industry analyst. “The majority thinks stores should begin putting up their holiday displays and advertising holiday sales around Thanksgiving.”
Specifically, 74% of those polled agreed — including 48% who strongly agreed — with the statement, “It’s annoying that the holiday shopping season has gotten earlier.”
Most people (52%) say the time to start shopping is around Thanksgiving, while 12% like to wait until just two weeks before Christmas to get going.
But it’s not likely that we’ll see an end to Christmas Creep any time soon — if shoppers want to holiday shop, retailers are going to provide.
“If the consumers are asking for holiday products earlier in the year, you are more than likely to see retailers start having a small assortment by late summer and build up their inventory as we move into the holiday season,” Ana Serafin Smith, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation, a trade group, told CreditCards.com. “It is natural that retailers are reacting to this trend.”
So where will people be doing this shopping, whenever they choose to begin? A—bout 58% are still fans of doing most of their purchasing in stores, while 21% prefer using computers, and 11% like to shop on mobile devices best.
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist