As we coast into October, the holiday season is just on the horizon. What changes in shopping behavior can retailers expect this year?

Despite the push to drive holiday shoppers to ecommerce, Hickory Farms still sees a big part of their seasonal sales through brick and mortar. Judy Ransford, CMO of the Chicago-based specialty food company spoke with eMarketer's Andrew Lipsman about their holiday outlook for both online and offline.

Mounting evidence shows that the holiday shopping season is starting sooner. But is this Christmas creep consumer-driven or the result of retailers planting seeds in the public's mind earlier in the year?

According to a recent comScore study, the period between Thanksgiving and what the researcher is calling "Cyber Tuesday" has taken an increasingly larger share of online holiday spending over the past few years.