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| My HallowThanksChristmas Hat |
Have you
been in a store lately? I was in the grocery store last week-end to pick up
some supplies. The Halloween items were
already on sale for 50% off, and the Christmas stuff was huddled on shelves as
if waiting in line, clamoring for their
turn.
I see people
making snide comments about this early Holiday Marketing. “Wait, we haven’t
even had Halloween!” or “What happened to Thanksgiving?”
On Facebook, I’ve seen posts that are
crusading against it. The slogan is , IN SUPPORT OF FAMILY, I PLEDGE TO NOT SHOP ON THANKSGIVING. Another
one simply says, JUST SAY NO TO SHOPPING ON THANKSGIVING, and then, IF I'M SHOPPING, SOMEONE ELSE IS WORKING.
There is
even an entire page on Facebook devoted to this crusade. It has over 70,000
fans, or what Facebook calls, likes. On
it people are leaving warning posts to not shop at Sears, Kmart, Walmart, and
others because these places all open early on Thanksgiving Day for this annual
shopping marathon.
Well my
goodness, maybe some people are happy to be working and getting holiday pay for
doing so.!
And maybe
someone else is happy to have the time to shop on a day when their own work is
closed.
Costco, one
of the largest US retailers is not open on “Black Friday”, the Day after Thanksgiving, in support of this crusade. Do you know why it’s
called Black Friday?
It’s called
Black Friday because that is the day in the year when most retailers are no
longer “in the red”, but go “in the black”. That means they make a profit for the first time in the
year. Amazing isn’t it? The year is nearly over and they just start to make a
profit.
Personally,
I like when the stores start filling with Holiday Décor. I don’t even mind the
snowmen and reindeer in line behind the pumpkins and turkeys. It sort of gets me in the Holiday Spirit and
reminds me that the Holidays are near at hand. I like it even better when the online ads
begin.
I don’t go into stores on the Holidays. I
prefer to spend them with family and friends.
I did do it once. I was young and foolish. I went to Toys R Us in search of a Star Wars
ewok for my son. After diving headlong
through a crazed group of parents to reach my prize, I lost it to another
mother who grabbed it out of my hands and then smacked me in the face with it.
I decided not to participate in that kind of Holiday Spirit again.
I do however
shop on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. I
do it peacefully and comfortably at my laptop computer. I spend time talking
with family or friends to find out how they are and decipher what they might
need or want from these conversations.
Then I go on Amazon, Ebay, or Store websites and find it. You can find
out so much more about many items online. The amount of information and
customer feedback is incredible. I also
make a Christmas list of things I’d like and share it with family. So
simple, no stress, and the choices are endless.
I especially
like things being delivered to my home. In the old days, you called up the
grocer and he’d deliver the items to your house. Or, he’d have it ready and waiting for you to
pick up. Milk and Dairy were delivered
most days. Word of mouth was the advertising then. Mrs. Jones would let it be known when the
Christmas Candies and Calendars could be ordered. Your neighbor would tell you when the dairy
had the new cheese ready, or that the butcher could now take orders for
Christmas turkeys.
Today,
thanks to the internet, we have even more options and word of mouth. I can order supplies or gifts on Amazon and
they are delivered in two days at no charge. I can share an item with someone
in another state or country to see if it is exactly what they are looking
for. I can order a piece of art directly
from the artist, or music directly from the musician, or send a gift card for
someone to pick out exactly what they want. I can ship a painting to Italy for
a Christmas present on behalf of someone who would never have known me except
for the internet.
As an online
retailer, I’m very, very fond of the holidays. People can ask me questions
about my products and it gets emailed to my phone. I can answer them in my
pajamas too and no one’s the wiser. I
can also process dozens of orders in a day without even lifting a finger because
Amazon does all the work for me. I can
do it while sleeping, while eating, while painting, while…….oh, never mind, we
won’t go there.
I love
marketing and sales. It’s courageous,
creative, fun and very lucrative.
So, what’s wrong with all this over the
holidays? We all need or want various
goods and services. Those who sell goods or services need to make them known
and get them into the hands of customers. The engine of an economy is
production and exchange, and without marketing, advertising and sales it
wouldn’t get anywhere. I say bring it
on!, the more the merrier.
Don’t be afraid of a little holiday spirit.
Have some fun and don’t be so serious!
And, let’s
all have a very Happy HallowThanksChristmas!
© 2014 Michele Ross
