I watched my first Christmas commercial of the year last week (3 months earlier). The commercial, which features a giant gingerbread man and promotes the company’s layaway program, warns shoppers to not “let the holidays sneak up” on them.

My $0.02

This is a great marketing strategy by Kmart, this means customers can plan ahead of time and spend wisely. Planning well in advance leads to more savings, more creativity, more choices, more flexibility in your schedule that can lead to more generosity. I suppose it also reduces impulse buys, last-minute panics, price gouging and out of stock must haves.

The National Retail Federation says more than 40 percent of holiday shoppers start buying before Halloween.  I realize that several retailers have already announced their layaway schemes. I think Costco is one of them, I haven’t been there in a while to confirm this assertion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDSz7APFmAk

What do you think of the timing of Kmart’s Christmas ad?

Too soon or just right? or is it great marketing strategy to make customers become more budget conscious?