Welcome to Retail’s New Holimonth – November

Well, it was bound to happen.  First, we had Black Friday, the day in which retailers would traditionally go “in the black” in revenue for the year as they lead up to the holiday spending season.  Then it became a shoppers holiday when marketers found a way to capitalize on it to kick off the spending season.  Next came Cyber Monday when e-commerce exploded and places like Amazon became a “go-to” place for holiday shopping.  Let’s face it, two days a year isn’t enough.  

In 2018, welcome to the new retail holiday which I’m deeming the “holimonth” (holiday month) of November.  While I’m sure we can probably argue the holimonth is really between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, I feel this year it is now the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.  In the last two weeks alone I’ve been seeing headlines about retailer’s Black Friday deals starting to leak.  Get your credit cards paid off folks–spending is about to kick into high gear.  However, today’s mail brought me the Costco Holiday ad.  Big and bold on the cover “Holiday Savings starting November 6, 2018.” Wait, what?!  Sure enough, as I flipped through the ad, looking at the TVs, game systems, mozzarella sticks (I mean, who doesn’t need 5 lbs of mozzarella sticks for the holidays…if they even last that long!), and deals on 4 tires, it struck me that these deals were spread across the next four weeks leading up to Black Friday.

Share of Wallet Means Starting Earlier

As marketers, we need to be more creative to get the coveted “share of wallet.”  At some point creativity isn’t about a gimmick or cool ad or experience, it is just flat out offering deals sooner than the competition. 

Remember when you can get together for Thanksgiving and not worry about running home to get the kids to bed and pre-game your shopping binge run?  When Black Friday started to get traction, it was all about who was open at Midnight to get the deals.  How many of you have sat in line, in the cold, hours before a retailer opened to be one of the few who got the “hot deal” before they ran out?   That game system that little Johnny wanted.  Or the doll that little Suzy had to have.  I see you’re hand raised (and your “no not me” shaking of head).  We’ve all either done it or put serious thought towards it. 

However, Midnight wasn’t enough.  It didn’t take long before the stores started opening up on Thursday at 11:00 pm, then 9:00 pm, and now 6:00 pm!  It’s gotten so bad that stores are now saying “Nope, we’re closed on Thanksgiving…spend time with your family. We’ll be open tomorrow.” It is the anti-holiday as a sign of “good faith” for your shopping behavior.  The irony of that list is that Costco is closed on Thanksgiving.  Maybe that’s why the deals are rolling out weeks ahead of time.  However, even if you aren’t shopping in their stores, you’re online buying gifts from them.  E-commerce never sleeps.  

The Disease We All Exploit…Getting the Deal

Marketers and companies are no fools.  They know how the game is played,  especially retailers.  The game is this, human behavior loves a good deal.  The emotional feeling, the dopamine rush of getting the deal.  It is literally a legal drug that retailers, game makers, and marketers all exploit.  Do what you can to let a hit of dopamine to be released in your brain.  The “feel good” drug that everyone has in their body.  Get the deal.  This week only.  Only this time, don’t wait for the Black Friday deals to happen on Black Friday, get them weeks earlier.  

In light of all of this, I firmly believe that retailers will now use the entire month to grease the wheels for the mad dash run of sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  It’s going to be the new trend. Welcome to November, the “Holimonth.”