When the Denbigh branch of Home Bargains put up its festive display in August it made headlines. “Bah, humbug! Christmas comes too early for north Wales shoppers,” said the Guardian, while the Daily Mail claimed the store was facing a “backlash” over its move. Indeed, shoppers did complain it was “too soon” and some suggested there should be rules on when retailers were allowed to start promoting their festive ranges.
But it turns out it wasn’t just Home Bargains that was getting in the Christmas spirit months in advance of the big day. Other retailers began quietly opening their festive offerings in late summer and early autumn and the tutting householders who spoke to the Mail in Wales were not necessarily speaking for everyone. One in five shoppers told a Post Office survey that they were planning to start early this year.
John Lewis justified opening its online Christmas shop in August, saying a survey of customers had suggested 28% were already browsing and purchasing gifts. Come September, as the UK experienced a heatwave, it started selling festive goods in store, while Sainsbury’s had Christmas food on the shelves under signs saying “it’s never too early”.
Last-minute Christmas shopping has always been a preserve of the brave but this year a surge of earlier shopping might leave those who do it with an empty basket.
Many retailers have reported an uptick in early sales of Christmas gifts and accessories. John Lewis said spending on Christmas items was up by 10% year-on-year in October and that people began “shopping in earnest” on 10 November.
At the Liverpool ONE shopping centre, the estate director, Iain Finlayson, said it had been “much busier much earlier this year”. In November, footfall was up by 4% year on year.
“As we know, this year has been challenging for many people with the cost of living crisis,” he said. “But what we have seen is a shift in how and where people are spending, meaning they are budgeting to start their Christmas shopping earlier and browsing various stores, with beauty and menswear leading the pack so far.”
Metapack, which provides technology to several big retailers to help with their deliveries, said a survey it had done of consumers across eight countries found those in the UK were most likely to be starting shopping early. The research, done earlier this year, found 40% planned to start before October.
Caitlin Murphy, 22, had started – and finished – by then. She began shopping for presents for her family in August. “I like to space out the purchasing of Christmas presents across a couple of months so that it doesn’t feel like a huge chunk of money gone in one month,” she said.
“In previous years I have started buying around October/November, but, as I buy a lot of items through sites such as eBay or Vinted or buy from sales, I like to start buying at the end of summer to secure the best sales and deals.”
Retailers have been launching promotions earlier to respond to consumers’ budget constraints. Tom Forbes, chief customer officer at Metapack, said: “With the cost of living particularly pressuring budgets this year, a lot of discounting started earlier to help consumers with Christmas shopping, enabling them to stretch purchases over several pay cheques and months, rather than just weeks.”
Silvia Rindone, UK retail lead at consultancy EY, said consumers had been changing their spending habits over a number of years as they became used to the timing of sales. In the second year of a cost of living crisis, with interest rate rises biting for many, she said people were keen to get value for money.
On top of this, retailers are stretching out occasions – with goods for Easter, Mother’s Day and Halloween also appearing weeks in advance of the date. Among the big grocery chains, she said there was a desire “to capture that share of wallet early and to hook you in”.
Black Friday is now key. Charles Allen, retail analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said it had shifted the focus of spending in recent years. “John Lewis no longer reporting weekly sales but, while they did, Black Friday had become their biggest shopping week for revenue,” he said. “In the days before the UK adopted that promotional day, the biggest week was always the one immediately before Christmas.”
Because Black Friday fell early this year, on 24 November, spending shifted forward with it. Many retailers started discounting a week in advance, meaning there were incentives to spend from the middle of the month.
But if you haven’t prepared yet, do not worry. While some homes began to look a lot like Christmas in early November, Rory Young from the British Christmas Tree Growers Association, said purchases of real trees had not been as early as in the two years of the Covid pandemic, so there should be some left. “During Covid, there were quite a few trees being bought in November, but most people I speak to are seeing similar buying trends to last year when people were buying in December,” he said.
This year, Christmas falls on a Monday, so there are another two full shopping weekends ahead of the day. And there could still be more price cuts. “January used to be the month when everything was on sale, but that has shifted to pre-Christmas,” said Rindone. “Some brands that didn’t participate in the Black Friday hype are going on sale now.”
