Has October Become Holiday’s Make-or-Break Month? – RetailWire

Following news on holiday sales events set for early October arriving from Amazon, Target, and Best Buy, Walmart announced plans last week to roll out holiday deals “weeks earlier than previous years.”

Walmart’s first holiday deals event kicks off over six days from Oct. 8 to 13, with “deep savings” across electronics, home, fashion, and toys both in-store and online, including from Walmart Marketplace assortments.

Last year, Walmart’s holiday season started with solely an online-only sales event over four days from Oct. 9 to 12, with its first in-store “Black Friday Deals” not beginning until Nov. 8.

In a statement, Walmart cited a Bankrate survey showing that 48% of consumers plan to start their holiday shopping before Halloween “as people remain price-conscious and plan ahead to maximize their holiday budgets.”

Bankrate’s survey showed that 12% of holiday shoppers started making holiday purchases by Aug. 31, while 13% planned to start in September, 24% in October, 37% in November, and 15% in December.

“About one in eight early birds have already started and about one in eight are planning to start sometime this month. October in particular, has become the unofficial holiday kickoff,” Ted Rossman, Bankrate senior analyst, told USA Today.

He also said that supply-chain disruption caused by the pandemic drove early shopping in recent years, and many customers have continued those habits. He added, “Some of it’s actually morphed into more of a desire to spread out your cash flow. With high inflation, people are very price conscious, and to the extent that they can spread it out, that’s a good thing.”

Walmart is also bringing back its “inflation-free” traditional Thanksgiving meal that serves up to 10 people at 2021 prices on Oct. 14 versus Nov. 1 last year, becoming the first major chain to announce a Thanksgiving discount. The promotion runs through Christmas.

Latriece Watkins, EVP and chief merchandising officer at Walmart U.S., said, “We’re thrilled to give customers more of what they want this holiday — more time to prepare and more opportunities to save all season long.”

The apparent push toward more holiday deals arriving even earlier in October is partly due to Amazon’s move starting in 2021 to hold a second Prime Day event in October built around holiday deals. Prime Big Deal Days, reserved for Prime members, is being held from Oct. 8 to 9 this year.

Target also recently revealed that its first holiday sales event will run from Oct. 6 to 12 after first moving its holiday start back a week in 2021 to align with Amazon’s Prime event. Best Buy announced that its first Member Exclusive Sale for the holidays will take place from Sept. 27 to 29, while a 48-hour Flash Sale will run from Oct. 8 to 9, similar to last year.

Any shift to earlier October promotions comes as several forecasts have arrived predicting holiday selling’s gains will trail recent years’ levels due to inflation effects, unease over the economy, and higher levels of credit card debt. Deloitte earlier this month predicted holiday growth only between 2.3% and 3.3%, while Bain & Co. forecast a 3% gain.

Comparisons will be challenged with only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, the fewest since 2019 and compared to 32 last year.

Anxiety about the presidential election has also raised concerns over a November slowdown. George Mason University associate professor Mehmet Altug told Axios, “The uncertainty around election results may slow down shopping around that time and that could be one reason why retailers started to offer holiday deals early.”