UF Survey: Shoppers Say Stores Jump The Gun With Christmas Displays

November 24, 1997

GAINESVILLE — If it seemed like the plastic light-up Santa Claus in the toy aisle was dangerously close to rubbing elbows with the Fourth of July Uncle Sam cutout over in lawn and garden, join the crowd: Most people think retailers are putting up their Christmas displays earlier than ever, according to a recent University of Florida survey.

But truth be told, department stores haven’t changed their yuletide launch dates much in quite a while, says Erik Gordon, director of the Center for Retail Education and Research at UF’s Warrington College of Business Administration.

“Most of us like to think that Christmas shopping begins the day after Thanksgiving, but that hasn’t been true for years,” said Gordon, who directed the survey.

Of the slightly more than 1,000 Florida residents telephoned randomly in October, about 75 percent said they think the displays go up too early. About 53 percent think retailers are continually pushing up the time for breaking out the tinsel, 23 percent said that’s not the case, and the rest didn’t know, the survey shows.

However, retailers say it’s the shoppers who have been leading the way toward what change there has been, and retailers fear that waiting too late to get into the spirit could be suicidal in terms of losing business to less-Scrooge-like competitors, Gordon said.

Laura Mahle, spokeswoman for Troy, Mich.-based Kmart, said her company still considers the day after Thanksgiving — still the biggest shopping day of the year — the official holiday season kickoff but starts getting ready well in advance.

“Traditionally, following Halloween [store managers] begin to reformat the store for the holiday season with decorations and signage,” Mahle said.

Toys, especially hot sellers such as Tickle-Me Elmo dolls and Power Rangers of years past, do bring some customers in even earlier, she said. This year, she said, Kmart tried a new strategy by sending a direct-mail toy catalog to 30,000 households nationwide just before Halloween.

“That was kind of early for us,” Mahle said, but added, “Once the merchandise is put out, people are going to start buying it. Some people just like to beat the rush and the crowds.”

The survey seems to lend some support to that belief.

About 20 percent of respondents said they plan to shop earlier this year than last, while 7 percent said they plan to shop later. More women (22 percent) than men (18 percent) expect to shop earlier, the survey shows Gordon said the shift to starting the Christmas shopping season earlier also was in response to the changing needs of working mothers.

“When [the day after] Thanksgiving was the kickoff date, most women were stay-at-home moms. They had about 25 days to do their Christmas shopping — stores didn’t open on Sunday,” he said. “Now, moms work outside the home and take care of kids, and they can’t shop much during the week.

“If the shopping season started the day after Thanksgiving, they would have about eight shopping days, and if the weather is bad one weekend or the kids have to be taken to soccer matches, there would be even fewer days to get the shopping done,” Gordon said.

While we may be shopping earlier, most of us expect — at least this year — to be tighter on the purse strings, according to the survey. About 16 percent expect to spend a little less, and 6 percent plan to spend a lot less. Nearly 13 percent said they’ll spend a little more, and almost 4 percent said they’ll spend a lot more.

As for the perception that Christmas is on the verge of becoming a summer holiday, not everybody agrees: A tiny share of those surveyed — roughly 0.5 percent — said they think Christmas displays actually go up too late.