We all start shopping at different times of the year for Christmas.
We all know someone who starts as soon as Christmas has ended for the next Christmas, and we all know someone who leaves it all until Christmas Eve.
The real question is, when do people typically start shopping for Christmas? And when is it ok to start promoting your Christmas offers and products?
This is a tricky question to answer as it can vary based on your industry and customer base.
The Facts
According to previous years’ Christmas sales, people tend to shop for Christmas in October, November and of course December.
However, there is contradicting research that shows that people are more likely to mentally shop for gifts in September and October, before purchasing in November and December. This shows that you need to be present and marketing earlier than thought so that you are in people’s minds for when they make their purchase later.
A good example of this is shown by big retailers. From August you will find a small section of Christmas specific products in most of their bricks and mortar stores, as well as a Christmas category in a less prominent location on their website.
Then over September and October this section grows larger but still remains just out of the main focus. Then as soon as Halloween and Bonfire Night have passed they switch the full blown Christmas marketing spectacular on and you cannot see anything other than red, green and sparkles.
Start Now
The moral of the story is that your business should be setting up for Christmas now.
After all, there are only 91 days to go.
Plan, prepare and conduct a soft launch, ready for the big Christmas marketing effort from early to mid November.
Published: 20th Sep 2018