Here's how the holiday shopping calendar is evolving and what it means for retailers.
Traditional holidays are expanding into seasons
What was once a single day of celebration for many holidays has transformed into extended shopping periods that span weeks or even months.
- “Summerween” exemplifies this trend, with retailers like Walmart and Michaels introducing Halloween-themed merchandise as early as July.
- This phenomenon, which began as a niche subculture reference from the show "Gravity Falls" in 2012 before gaining mainstream traction through social media, features quirky items like watermelon jack-o'-lanterns aimed at horror enthusiasts and decoration lovers.
“When I think of Halloween when I was a kid growing up, it really was just that one day or night,” said our analyst Sky Canaves. “And now with a daughter of my own, it’s more like a season. We have weeks of different events … and then she doesn’t want to wear the same costume for every event, so we have multiple costumes.”
Economic concerns are accelerating this shift, as budget-conscious consumers spread their spending across more months and take advantage of summer sales events like Amazon's Prime Day for better prices.
Retailer-created events reshape the calendar
Beyond traditional holidays, retailer-created shopping events have become significant drivers of consumer spending year-round.
Amazon's Prime Day, which started as a one-day event 10 years ago and now spans multiple days, has established July as a major shopping period.
- "If anything started the buying in July, it was when Amazon started their day," Davidkhanian pointed out, noting that these promotional events differ from emotionally-driven gift holidays like Christmas or Valentine's Day.
- This has prompted competitors to create their own summer sales events, with Macy's running "Black Friday in July" and "Christmas in July" promotions.
What it means for retailers
The evolving holiday calendar creates both opportunities and challenges for retailers competing for consumer dollars throughout the year.
- These extended shopping seasons and new events provide more opportunities to drive traffic and sales, especially for those with retail media networks who can monetize this traffic through advertising.
- However, it also means consumers are increasingly conditioned to wait for sales, potentially eroding full-price purchases.
- "Consumers have them in mind. They wait to buy things," Canaves said, noting that knowledge of upcoming sales events makes consumers more likely to delay purchases until promotions are available.
This is why retailers need to be strategic about which holidays they emphasize and how they position them.
"Retailers really need to think about their strategy and think about holidays as either a branding play or a performance play and to really think about that emotional connection versus the purely promotional connection," said Davidkhanian.
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