Chapter 66 Question 058

Why are retailers putting out Christmas decorations in September? (Melissa Moore, Eric Sass) While the Christmas shopping season doesn't have to start on the Friday after Thanksgiving, artificial trees and holiday wreaths will be on shelves in September at some stores.Putting on the shelves in advance involves the issue of opportunity cost, because there are holiday items on the shelves, and other products cannot be placed on the shelves.So, Christmas items are on the shelves in the morning, at the expense of reducing sales of other products.The length of the Christmas shopping season has little to do with how much shoppers spend on holiday items overall, so why are stores showing Christmas items so early?

The Christmas holiday shopping season accounts for about 40% of annual retail sales and 65% of annual retail profits.If most stores wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving to start displaying Christmas items, then some stores that put on shelves earlier, such as the Friday before Thanksgiving, will be in a good position.This does not increase the overall sales of Christmas items, but it can steal business from other merchants. In self-defense, other merchants also put holiday merchandise on shelves as early as possible, so the dates are getting earlier and earlier.As the retail market has become increasingly competitive in recent years, in many markets, the unofficial date for the arrival of Christmas merchandise is mentioned after Labor Day (Labor Day in the United States is on the first Monday in September).

Finally, will we see Christmas merchandise on store shelves year-round?Like a 24-hour supermarket?It's possible, but not very hopeful.Supermarkets are open all night because the cost of opening an extra hour is relatively small.However, using shelf space to display Christmas products means that other products cannot be placed. After a certain degree of advance, opportunity cost becomes a prominent problem.If retailers can't put their limited shelf space to more profitable uses and start displaying Christmas items in March, such stores may not last long.