The Early Christmas Shopper: Good or Bad?

It is maddening to see Christmas decorations already on display well before Halloween, and Christmas songs are steadily played on the radio well before Thanksgiving.

One might ask simply, can we please have one holiday at a time! However, if you really think about it, the introduction of all these Christmas notions makes us think about buying Christmas gifts earlier and earlier every year. Is this really such a bad thing?

If you are going to be shopping for your Christmas gifts early, you need to be organized and you better have a well thought out strategy. Your strategy needs to include the fact that if you purchase too early you're going to miss out on the Black Friday deals, but if you wait too late then you run the risk of not getting that limited gift item and becoming one of the rest of the last minute shoppers.

Black Friday is the merchandiser's way of selling low enough to get you to buy the product, yet still high enough for them to make a profit. This is the official start of the greatest shopping occasion of the entire year.

Merchandiser's know that when you shop during the holiday season they are looking at making as much as 70 percent of their yearly income in a matter of a few months. Obviously the merchandiser's have found a way to get you to come to their stores so they can make money, if you are going to be a knowledgeable shopper then you need a strategy too!

Early Christmas shoppers will start shopping very early in the season; sometimes they shop throughout the year. As a rule however, you can't be considered an "early Christmas shopper" if you don't at least start shopping in October.

By October you should already have a very good plan as to who you are buying for, what you plan to purchase, how available are the gifts and how much they cost. If you already have these things figured out, you will be on the lookout for these items every time you go to the store and your chances of finding these items marked down are great.

You will also know what the average cost of the item should be so you will be able to compare between stores because you have the luxury of time on your hands! Keep in mind that even though Black Friday is supposed to be when the merchandisers are making their lowest offers of the season, this is not always true.

The merchandisers know that if you have waited until Thanksgiving to start your shopping you do not have the time to shop around and that you might be feeling a little more desperate. Therefore, they will not offer their lowest prices at this time; remember Black Friday is a day for them to make money. Most of the time you will find much better deals offered during the Columbus Day sale or the Veterans Day sale.

Possibly one of the biggest disadvantages to shopping early is that if there is any new fancy gadget getting ready to come out, the merchandisers will wait until the last minute to put it on the market to create a frenzy of sales and boost their profit margin.

If you can, make it a habit in your house to wait until after Christmas to buy the "must have" item if it really is a must have for someone in your family. This will keep you from going out at the crack of dawn to wait for a store to open so that you might have the opportunity to purchase one of these "must have" items that will be overpriced and of limited quantity in the first place.

The greatest part of shopping early is that you have the most time to find the best deals and you have the joy of stress free shopping so that you can really enjoy the splendor of the holiday season.

Source- Personal Experience