No, I’m
not talking about Santa, although an argument could be made… I’m talking about the Christmas season. It’s creeping up on us earlier and earlier
every year.
I could just be me, but I’ve
never noticed Christmas lights on homes in mid-November until this year.
Christmas
merchandise was available in many stores before Remembrance Day. I understand that Remembrance Day isn’t quite
as marketable as Halloween or Christmas, but hold off with the Christmas music until
after the poppy season!
Maybe
I’m old school, but I think the brakes should be put on Christmas creep, with
Christmas decorations only going up on the first Advent. That’s about the time we put up our Christmas
tree. The first year we did it I thought
even that was early – I’m more accustomed to the mid-December tree
installation, especially when it’s a real tree.
But thanks to genetic engineering (I really don’t know about that), a tree
can now last a good 50 days. It has to
last until Ukrainian Christmas and then “Old” New Year’s in our household (January
14th)!
This
isn’t Christmas creep, but rather Christmas over-extension. It’s happening in the retail world as well,
where Boxing Day is no longer a day, but rather a week. Might as well just make it the whole month of
January.
In the
United States, Black Friday has crept into Canada, where we have no reason to
have sales on a Friday after American Thanksgiving. It’s a popular event for consumers, but
apparently of less benefit to retailers whose profits are cut in half during a
time of prime demand.
In the
U.S., Black Friday sales used to begin that Friday morning, then they crept up
to Friday at midnight, and now some sales start Thursday evening during Thanksgiving
turkey. It’s heretical! They might as well just start the sales on
November 1st and call it – that’s right – Black November.
It’s of
course all driven by retailers who are competing for profits for as long as
possible. This is understandable, but aren’t
there limits to consumer spending? Does
it help to extend the period of spending?
Has it really been working?
 |
| We tried to scale back on our tree this year ;-) |
Based on
U.S. statistics, it appears not to be. Holiday
sales as a percentage of total industry sales amounted to 19.3% in 2014. That’s pretty significant and quite unsurprising. But it’s still less than from 2000 to 2005
when holiday sales reached a high of 20.0%.
Even accounting for the recension post-2008, retailers would have surely
been able to reach the same levels as 15 years ago though Christmas creep and
over-extension.
Or is
the reality that consumers don’t have that much more cash to spend? In Canada, the bulk of our spending now goes
towards over-priced mortgages with additional spending racked up as debt.
Consumers
and retailers would do themselves a favour by scaling back a little. Stores need to stop the never-ending
sales. Price things the way they should
be priced in the first place, and return retail to normalcy.
Consumers
would benefit from a little less gift-giving fanaticism. Take a break from it all – don’t give gifts
this year, and see how your family reacts!
Our
extended family is attempting to scale back this year because I strongly
suggested it. Sure, I may have been
perceived as a scrooge, but is there any real point to exchanging gift cards
every year?
The kids
are different of course, we spoil them no matter what. And as adults we end up spoiling ourselves anyway
this time of year.
For
example, I didn’t need to buy that big-screen TV last Christmas. But creep or no creep (this may be a reference to Santa), it’s so much easier to justify than in July.
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