While you may not instantly know what "holiday creep" means, it's a phenomenon most of us have already witnessed.
When retailers start putting out Christmas stock before you've even decided what you're wearing for Halloween and you turn to your parent/friend/partner, point, and exclaim, "Already?", that's holiday creep.
In fact, if you're a regular in any retail store, you've probably not only seen plenty of holiday creep, but noticed it seems to happen a little earlier every year as well.
In fact this year, Bath & Body Works (BBWI) sent out a mailer declaring that its famed Halloween collection was coming soon. It arrived in mailboxes before the end of July, when most of us are still wearing our flip flops to go to the pool.
Why Does Holiday Creep Happen?
There's a host of reasons why holiday stuff continues to show up months in advance of the holiday for which it's created. In retail, seasonal items are typically shipped out early to give the retailers time to prepare their displays, put things on sale, and move inventory out to make room for the new.
Another reason is that most retailers enjoy a surge in sales around the holidays, and they want to make that surge happen sooner. There's a consumer hunger for the celebrations at the end of each year, and in a post-covid landscape everyone wants something to look forward to after several difficult, shaky years.
But finally, the biggest reason is that the earlier holiday merchandise hits the shelves, the more enthusiastic a certain customer is about it -- especially a specific one that lives for all things October.
The Fandom of Holidays
While some folks buy heavy into fandoms like Marvel or Disney (DIS), there are quite a few others who choose holidays as the thing they lavish their adoration on, waiting with bated breath for their local T.J. Maxx to drop a spooky motherlode of black candlesticks and spiderweb dinnerware.
While Christmas has quite a devoted following of those eager to put up their Christmas trees ASAP, Halloween is truly in a class of its own, spawning an ocean of memes over the past decade or so that make it clear that there are many people who would be a lot happier if Halloween season came and simply never left.
The cult of passionate Halloween devotees translates to a highly interested audience that's quite willing to spend their money when it comes to anything associated with the spooky holiday, which is lucrative for brands that are known for their excellent Halloween wares.
Where The Halloween Fandom Shops
Two favorites among that crowd are (TJX) Cos.' T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, both which carry a wide variety of Halloween merchandise that can't be found elsewhere. In fact, its offerings are so anticipated that folks take to social media just to let each other know that the time they've all waited for has finally come (and the sooner, the better).
Target (TGT) has also capitalized on the Halloween faithful with its much-adored collection it does every season, which has everything from velvet skulls to bat wings for your pet to wear. However, Target has chosen to hold off a bit longer than T.J. Maxx and Bath & Body Works, making its Halloween collection only available via website for now (despite the pleading of the faithful via Twitter).
