Get An Early Start On Your Christmas Shopping

Many radio stations start playing Christmas songs so early in November that one wonders if we may soon start hearing Christmas songs around Halloween time. That would be a bit weird, even creepy perhaps. But early Christmas shoppers have Christmas Carols silently playing in their heads even before then.

That's because shopping, much like Santa Claus, is a staple of Christmas. Santa never gives away any secrets to shopping for all those gifts, but he must have a workable strategy to be so successful every Yuletide season. The early Christmas shopper is organized and has a strategy to complete their Christmas shopping before the season kicks into high gear.

In the United States, the day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday and is the official retail start to the Christmas shopping season. The strategy of retailers is to advertise Christmas sales, specials, pre-Christmas markdowns, giveaways, special-hour sales and other promotions. The reason for the frenzy of retail advertising during Christmas season is because it is the single biggest shopping time of the year. Christmas shopping, that begins the day after Thanksgiving accounts for well over half - with some estimates of up to 70% -- of annual revenue for the stores.

Since retailers clearly have a strategy for Christmas shoppers seeking the perfect gift, then shoppers also need to implement their own strategy.

The savvy and early Christmas shopper is the one who starts silently singing those Christmas Carols and holiday songs very early to get in the right mindset for shopping. Starting as early as the beginning of October, the early Christmas shopper begins to make lists of gifts and starts browsing to check the availability, variety and, most important, the price of items.

By browsing before the Christmas shopping season officially kicks off, the early Christmas shopper is likely to get surprise bargains, better prices and is also better equipped to do comparison shopping when the season officially kicks off. There is nothing worse than finding that great advertised bargain you snatched up is really 20% more than the same item on other stores' shelves.

It's important to know that retailers won't offer true 'rock bottom' or 'close-out' sales, or the very lowest prices during Christmas sales. It's also important to remember that many retailers are likely to offer earlier sales starting in early October to mid-November in an effort to increase traffic.

In the North America, two significant pre-Christmas sales are for Columbus Day (US), which falls on the second Monday in October (the same as Canada's Thanksgiving Day), and Veterans Day (US) / Rememberance Day (Canada) on November 11. The early Christmas shopper with gifts in mind can benefit from price markdowns during both sales periods. And of course the early Christmas shopper will also have the benefit of shopping during the season, therefore extending the thrill and joy of shopping.

A pesky disadvantage to being an early Christmas shopper, is that some retailers, particularly makers and sellers of toys, wait until the official start of the season to introduce new items into stores. Their strategy in doing this is to build anticipation for a new toy that they hope will be very popular and to also target and capture a larger majority of shoppers.

During every Christmas season there always is one, or maybe two toys, that are regarded as the 'must-have' toys for Christmas. It has become a newsworthy phenomenon for shoppers to arrive at stores during the wee hours in the morning in order to get a spot near the doors and be among the first in the stores to make a mad dash for the 'hot' toy of the season.

But being, doing or starting Christmas shopping early does not mean that it has to be over before the Christmas shopping season starts. What it means is that most, or a significant part, of your shopping will be done by the time Black Friday rolls around.

It is most important to get an early start on your Christmas shopping to make the best deal and to do so with the least hassle, by avoiding the crowded stores, for example. Both of those will be accomplished by those who are organized and motivated to get into the spirit of Christmas before the season really begins.

5 Best Selling Christmas Presents!

Popular Gift Ideas for 2009!