The holiday shopping extravaganza used to start in the middle of December. Then it started to come around a little after Thanksgiving. Nowadays, the shopping season lasts from Halloween to New Year's Day.
While some consumers have mixed reactions about the extended holiday season, retailers could not be happier.
"From Halloween to the end of the holiday season accounts for 20 to 30 percent of the total year's sales for retailers," said Sekar Raju, assistant marketing professor. "It makes sense to have a substantial part of advertising and promotions during this period."
Lisa McDonnell, a store manager at Wal-Mart on Niagara Falls Boulevard, agreed with Raju.
"The day after Thanksgiving, all of the Wal-Mart Stores in the U.S. recorded $1.52 billon in sales," said McDonnell. "This marks just a fraction of our sales for the year. With an extended Holiday season, consumers shop from Halloween to New Year's."
While it may be economically viable for stores to market the Christmas season in late October, some consumers feel Christmas should not be used as a marketing campaign.
"Retailers abuse the holiday season; instead of engaging the holiday spirit they commercialize it," said Rori Levin, a junior majoring in business management. "I feel that retailers raise prices right before the holiday season then discount them to what they should cost during the holiday season, manipulating buyers into thinking they are getting a good deal."
While some have qualms with the way the holiday season has a focus on consumerism, others choose to use this phenomenon to their advantage.
"I normally wait until the holiday season arrives to do all of my shopping," said Scott Cooper, a senior majoring in business management and marketing. "This is the time of year where you can get the best deals."
The contrast between the opposing points of view regarding the holiday season can be best noted by looking at the findings of two organizations with very different goals, the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Media Foundation, the originators of the anti-consumer "Buy Nothing Day."
According to a December 1 press release on the NRF Web site, www.nrf.com, the self-described "largest retail trade organization" in the world, "71.8 percent of consumers were out shopping on 'Black Friday' weekend" - the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday, known as the busiest shopping weekend of the year.
The flip side of "Black Friday" is "Buy Nothing Day," a movement started by the Media Foundation, a Vancouver-based anti-consumerism group. "Buy Nothing Day" encourages people to spend the day after Thanksgiving with their families, as opposed to spending the day in a shopping mall.
According to Raju, the early holiday season is the result of overzealous retailers stocking more goods than they can sell.
"During the past couple of years, retailers have taken on more inventory than they could sell and we're hurt because of it," said Raju. "Therefore, companies began giving these holiday deals earlier and earlier in order to dispense of their entire inventory."
"Retailers are going to do what it takes to sell merchandise, whether it is the holiday season or not," said Basirat Shoberu, a junior biochemical pharmacology major. "It is up to the public to decide whether or not they want to be gullible consumers or spend quality time with their friends and families."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
