MINNEAPOLIS — The seasonal display at Michaels makes you think it’s a crisp fall day in early October, but we didn’t even get a Pronto Pup at the Minnesota State Fair.
Under the motto “Summerween,” the store filled its shelves with spooky decorations at the end of July. It’s like seeing Christmas trees on display in mid-September.
“I think it should always be Halloween,” said Adrianna Brown.
“If you like Halloween so much, move to New Orleans. You can party there all year round,” joked Shawn Daly.
Due to high demand, Home Depot began selling its Halloween decorations online in April, but will not restock shelves in brick-and-mortar stores until around Labor Day.
Halloween isn’t the only special shopping season that starts early. Back-to-school items now appear around the Fourth of July. Black Friday deals start hitting email inboxes weeks in advance.
“The faster you get it out, the faster you can sell it,” said buyer Farin Smith.
George John, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota, says retailers are motivated to be first with their promotions.
“The average retailer knows everything about us. What we bought last time, what we want to buy next time. And if you shop online, they have the entire history of your purchases,” John said.
This data leads to targeted promotions, often even when a competitor does not offer them.
“Every one of these guys is trying to stay one step ahead of the next guy because they all know if you do that, if you run a promotion, and I don’t do that, I’m going to lose sales,” John said.
“The bottom line is that they want to make money before other companies,” Daly added.
In addition, John said, retailers have struggled with sales in general over the past year, so they’ve had to find new reasons to get customers to shop in their stores. Simply put, if customers aren’t buying what they’ve been selling in previous months, they might spend their money on Halloween decorations instead.
Are the deals and discounts better when the shopping season starts earlier? John said some deals are better, but some are not. “They are very good at giving you the best deals on the things that entice you to buy other things from them,” he said.
If an offer fits your price range, John says you should take advantage of it.
Halloween fan Molly Nelson said she usually waits until after the holiday to find good deals.
“But if I see something super cool, I buy it, regardless of the season,” she said.
How does it affect a buyer when they see a product they weren’t expecting? John said it affects them more than we might think.
“A business is a business if you know enough about it. If you don’t know enough about it, what counts is how new it is, how cool it is,” he said.
Just stay disciplined when spending money, otherwise this scary ad could be a curse on your wallet.
Jeff Wagner
