Christmas 2004

when will it start

[lloyd]

Last year (uk market) the silly season started around US Thanksgiving maybe a week earlier, late compared to the year before which was around the last week of October/first week of November.

What is everyones prediction for this year, especially in the UK. Or has it already started. Hopefully no postal strike.

[onlineleben]

With recurring events like christmas and other holidays, my opinion is that as soon as the event is over, start preparing for the next.
My pages with xmas related content have been accessed (with xmas related searchterms) from end of august (and that was not spider-traffic).

Btw. Chocolate Santa's were on sale at my local supermarket from October 1st on.

[encyclo]

Christmas?! The serious players are already working on Valentine's Day and Easter 2005!

If you want to be in the SERPs for Christmas items, best to start in August at the latest. If you haven't started yet, then you've got some catching up to do.

If you're talking about when searchers start looking for Christmas items, it's starting about now, slowly but surely.

[sem4u]

Christmas will be over on 1st November on one site due to lead times. Then it will be time to work on Valentines and Easter pages....although I might make a start now... :)

[RedWolf]

I am already starting to get requests for custom pieces for the holidays and some people discussing gifts in their emails, but if the last several years are any indication, I am expecting the big rush to start ramping up mid November and running till a few days after Christmas. The week before Christmas is the most hectic. I am often sending stuff out a couple times a day.

[Essex_boy]

Hmmm I did wonder my self, Harrods had Xmas items for sale in August - so Im told.

[amznVibe]

Come tomorrow it's like 15 days to Halloween - about 40 to (kill a) Turkey day (aka Thanksgiving ) about 50 days to Chanukah (12/7) about 70 days to Xmas (12/25), Kwanzaa (12/26) and of course there is Winter Solstice (12/21) for some of the rest of us (oh and Ramadan starts tomorrow for our Muslim friends 10/15, ends 11/14).

I saw a full section of xmas stuff in walmart last week, no kidding.

[Rugles]

Our first jump in shipments happened on Nov. 16 last year. So you can say the christmas rush started a day or two before.

[kodaks]

Here in Canada, the Christmas rush started well before Canadian Thanksgiving. Way too early if you ask me!

[SkyDog]

For me its always been a moderate increase in November, then from Thanksgiving to a week before Christmas, it's crazy.

[AmericanBulldog]

Already seeing seasonal increases.

[Sunshyn]

We've been getting slammed with large Halloween orders all week, with no sign of it slowing. We usually get a week or two off after that holiday before we start getting hit hard for the December ones (which, of course, is never enough time to catch back up).

Last year's holiday sales were the strangest in all our years on the web. We had a very slow October and November which was more than made up for throughout the month of December. I'd rather not go through that again.

[lloyd]

Catch up time.

How is it going.

Is everyone seeing an upturn for Xmas yet and what is proving to be the better media

PPC
Affiliate
Organic?

[Raymond]

My Christmas rush hasn't arrived yet. October sales was great, November is slightly worse than Oct so far.

[Rugles]

Where are experiencing a slight increase in traffic and sales. I am sure that is a result of the early xmas rush. So I expect it will increase over the weekend and be in full force by the middle of next week.

[CSE_Monkey]

In terms of a traffic Spike, The Holiday Season really kicks into gear the second week of November.

[nativenewyorker]

Black Friday is here. In the U.S., it is the busiest retail day of the year. Given that many people in the U.S. have the day off today, I expect Monday to show a huge jump in online sales when people get back to their office.

[nutsandbolts]

> My Christmas rush hasn't arrived yet. October sales was great, November is slightly worse than Oct so far.

Same with me... Hoping it kicks big next week!

[Raymond]

I am still not getting the Christmas rush, but sales isn't bad at all. As I posted earlier, slightly worse than Oct sales, but both November and October sales are great. Either my Christmas rush started in October, which I find unlikely, or my customers just aren't into Christmas shopping. Not sure what's happening.

[Rugles]

>>>when people get back to their office.

That is usually the way it works. It will be a better than average weekend but it will be in top gear on Monday.

[chodges84]

I don't think mine have started yet. Wednesday was awesome, and then trhursday wasn't so great, and friday was even worse (about the same as an average non-christmasssy day) and today?

It seems to me that people are maybe heading into town to get their christmas shopping done form a bricks and mortar store. I also work in a shop and this morning has been mad with people, and hopefully this afternoonw ill.

I would prewfer it though if they went online to shop.

[Essex_boy]

Large increase in traffic without the corresponding sales.

[Hennatron]

Traffic is up already and has been for the last 3-4 weeks. Historically however, the busiest periods (in terms of orders placed and revenue) is between 01/12 and 12/12.

Out of 10, this is how strong each day is.

Mondays >> 10
Tuesdays >> 9
Wednesdays >> 9
Thursdays >> 10
Fridays >> 7
Saturdays >> 5
Sundays >> 5

[jouwpagina]

I've got some Dutch Christmas 'sites' and the big traffic started 2 weeks ago. It's still rising of course.

[bears5122]

Mine started Friday for sure. Nearly doubled sales on any day this month and has continued through the weekend.

[chodges84]

hmm,

wish it was the same for me. Mondays are usually very good, but I've had 2 Sales all day!

I just can't beleive it. For these 2 products I am the lowest price around. no-one really comes close. Could it just be that people aren't buying my type of widget online?

I've just tried lowering some prices on my normal best selling Items. The prices were low any way, and a quick look on Google reveals that no-one is much lower than me.

[uksports]

All indications for UK retailers is that the customers are waiting until late to purchase - this is from online and bricks and mortar stores - bearing in mind that overall spend is expected to be up against last year, get ready for some late nights over the next 3 weeks!

But, given that alot of stores are already starting to discount stock, be prepared to get into a price war........

[icedout]

yeah I would say we started this weekend...let's see where it will peak.

[chodges84]

wow, I'm jealous.

I can't beleive my sales have taken such a big hit. I'm wondering if there is anything wrong with my site, but I haven't changed except the logo, which looks more christmassy.

Traffic is up, but sales are down. Yesterday i had 149 unique visitors, but only 6 made a purchase, which is only about 4% I think. Only one day in october did it exceed 149,and sales were much better.

Anyone any Ideas? I sell widget accessories and there are loads of different types of widgets. Maybe people are getting confused as to exactly what tyupe of widget accesory they want so leave. And that people that usually buy them for themselves are saving money, or waiting in anticipation of maybe receiving one on christmas day?

[lloyd]

The problem I have is that one of the website I look after hasn't really recorded their traffic or sales in a logical manner, so it is almost impossible to compare like with like at the moment.

The only thing I can compare it against is Google Adwords, in terms of sales that were generated last Xmas. If I go by that I am almost pass that figure with two weeks left in the campaign.

The one thing I have noticed though is a sudden change on Google Adwords for what people are typing in. And I am not talk about Xmas related terms but product related terms. Has anyone else seen this.