The Christmas creep is not your cousin Eddie in a too-tight Rudolph sweater with an eggnog mustache.
Christmas creep refers to holiday-related sales and products appearing earlier each year online and in stores. Several retailers, such as Sam’s Club, The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (No. 169 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide) and Target Corp. (No. 22), are rolling out Black Friday deals before Thanksgiving, even though Black Friday occurs on the day after Thanksgiving.
Perhaps because retailers offer so many deals spread throughout the holiday season and many deals are available online, 42% of consumers say Black Friday is less important to them than it was five years ago, according to the “Holiday Shopping Survey 2016,” an online survey of 1,054 U.S. shoppers conducted in August by personalization vendor RichRelevance. 12% say Black Friday is more important and 46% say its importance hasn’t changed. Conversely, 33% of shoppers say Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving when consumers are back at work and shopping online) is more important to them that it was five years ago, 22% call it less important and 46% say no change. Numbers don’t add up to 100% because of rounding.
Still, 58% of consumers say special deals on specific days like Black Friday or Cyber Monday do not affect their shopping behavior, the survey says.
Despite the earlier appearance of holiday goods and promotions, consumers are less annoyed by it than in years past, the survey finds.
Still, far more than half (63%) of U.S. consumers are annoyed or very annoyed when they see holiday merchandise in stores before Halloween, compared with 71% who said the same in 2014, the survey says.
Although consumers are exposed to holiday merchandise earlier in the year, only 3% said they would start holiday shopping before Halloween, according to the survey. The majority of shoppers, 52%, do not plan to start their shopping until after Thanksgiving. 18% plan to start holiday shopping between Halloween and Thanksgiving and 27% of consumers say they had already started holiday shopping (in August, when consumers took the survey) or they shop throughout the year for holiday items.
The study also finds:
- 54% of consumers are annoyed or very annoyed when retailers open their stores on Thanksgiving Day.
- 73% of consumers say they like retailers more when they announce their stores are closed on Thanksgiving Day. Outdoor gear retailer REI (No. 72 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide.) closed on Thanksgiving Day in 2015.
- 53% of consumer say they are more likely to shop with retailers that are closed on Thanksgiving Day.