Christmas stock comes earlier every year
Nov. 16th, 2011 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbee"It's only [insert month here]! Why are the shops putting out Christmas stock already? IT CONFLICTS WITH MY PERSONAL TIMELINE FOR APPROPRIATE HOLIDAY FESTIVITIES!"
Here is an answer from someone who has worked in retail:
The Christmas season means higher sales all around, so stores order their usual ranges in higher quantities, plus the seasonal products. Orders are placed well in advance to ensure the desired quantities arrive on time, because no one wants to come into December and find you're all out of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the supplier can't fill your order because they, too, are out of stock and awaiting the next print run.
Stores have finite storage space, and over-filling it is obviously not going to be helpful for anyone. So stock gets put out on the floor. By mid-December (if you're in a bookstore) books will be in floorstacks, the only time of the year when such a thing is permissible. By late October, Christmas stock is starting to appear because there's nowhere else for it to go. And frankly, with the huge quantities of Christmas stock that stores receive, you'd be an idiot to try and put it all out at once.
So now you know.
On the other hand, there is no excuse whatsoever for playing Christmas music in November, and the people (usually area managers who don't actually work in stores and don't have to listen to "Last Christmas" 18 times a day) who insist on it should be shot.
Here is an answer from someone who has worked in retail:
The Christmas season means higher sales all around, so stores order their usual ranges in higher quantities, plus the seasonal products. Orders are placed well in advance to ensure the desired quantities arrive on time, because no one wants to come into December and find you're all out of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the supplier can't fill your order because they, too, are out of stock and awaiting the next print run.
Stores have finite storage space, and over-filling it is obviously not going to be helpful for anyone. So stock gets put out on the floor. By mid-December (if you're in a bookstore) books will be in floorstacks, the only time of the year when such a thing is permissible. By late October, Christmas stock is starting to appear because there's nowhere else for it to go. And frankly, with the huge quantities of Christmas stock that stores receive, you'd be an idiot to try and put it all out at once.
So now you know.
On the other hand, there is no excuse whatsoever for playing Christmas music in November, and the people (usually area managers who don't actually work in stores and don't have to listen to "Last Christmas" 18 times a day) who insist on it should be shot.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-16 08:14 am (UTC)