By Amrita Jayakumar
Put away the pumpkins and bring out the stockings.
Walmart declared the holiday shopping season open by kicking off a selection of online deals Friday, nearly a month ahead of its usual Thanksgiving schedule. The offers included discounts on electronics and toys usually reserved for Black Friday. A 42-inch JVC television for $300 had sold out online by 10 a.m.
Walmart’s move is the latest sign that retailers are scrambling to make the most of a shortened holiday season through early promotions and aggressive marketing. There are six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than last year.
Retailers are also responding to consumers’ desires to start holiday shopping earlier, said Alison Paul, vice chairman at Deloitte, a consulting company.
The company’s 2013 holiday survey found that the share of Americans who said they expect to finish shopping in November was five percentage points higher than last year. And most of those surveyed said they will be looking for online deals.
For the first time in 15 years, the Internet was listed as the top destination for holiday shopping, edging out discount retailers, Paul said. That is another reason retailers are promoting their deals earlier this season, she said.
“We’re raising the stakes,” Wal-Mart spokesman Ravi Jariwala said. The retailer chose Nov. 1 to kick off its holiday campaign, he said, because Walmart.com usually experiences “a spike” in online traffic the day after Halloween.
