On August 1, I walked into a store and immediately had a sick feeling in my stomach. All I saw were rows and rows of Christmas decorations. My first response was, Are you serious? This is horrible. Children are still on summer break, and we have a number of holidays before this one, e.g., Halloween and Thanksgiving. So why has this retailer chosen to put out Christmas decorations? Because I am a curious shopper and like to know the reason behind a behavior, I asked a store associate and was informed that the Christmas products arrived in May and that this year’s arrival is later than last year, when the store had decorations out in July. I understand that there is a population of people who plan their Christmas celebrations well in advance and look forward to seeing row after row of decorations, but I do not. I would like to manage the holidays one at a time and in order of their occurrence. How many shoppers are buying Christmas products in August? Are there enough to justify the retailer’s May product arrival and storage and July/August stock date? How many shoppers are turned off by this behavior?
