Costco Wholesales around the U.S. have been ready for Santa before ghosts and ghouls have even had a chance to haunt on Halloween. They wouldn’t want their members to miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get a new Christmas tree in October. The well-known wholesale market is where people can buy in bulk, purchase all their favorite holiday items, and still be left with time to spare before it is time to decorate.
Within the high ceilings and rows of bulk items, behind-the-scenes deals are in place. Danielle Fiumara, an Assistant General Manager of the Costco in Wheaton, Maryland, explained the expansive process of what goes into the company’s purchases and distribution of holiday items. “At Costco, typically when we find a vendor, we go to them and say, ‘Hey, these are the items we want,’ and then we buy in bulk. We then distribute that to the depots, and then it’s the depot’s job to then distribute that to the warehouses,” she said. Fiumara added that the prematurity of the items is sooner than what customers witness, as the deals are placed up to a year in advance. “We’ve already had most of our Christmas stuff for the past 8 months,” expressed Fiumara.
Outside of the traditional expectation of premature holiday items in stores, there is a tremendous amount of business reasoning behind holiday treats coming out so early. Mr. William Stark, Woodgrove’s business teacher, commented on the specific prematurity of this year’s holiday fun at Costco. “This year, there was a particular rush because there was a lot of fear that there was gonna be a strike at the various ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States. So, a lot of stores, fearing this strike would happen, went ahead and purchased a whole bunch of holiday inventory super early, so the earliness of those items was very exaggerated this year,” he explained. Stark discussed the business tactic of scarcity mindset, and how much it truly affects how people justify such early placement and purchasing of these various holiday items. “People fear that they’re gonna run out of things, so they need to get out early and buy it,” Stark commented.
Holidays are full of fond memories that are filled with joy and time spent with loved ones. Shea Voss, a sophomore at Woodgrove, shared her family’s love for decorating and what it means to her. “My mom always decorates for Halloween. Even a week before, she puts up all these big Costco inflatables, and she just has so much fun with it,” she remarked. Costco and competing stores not only play on people’s fear of missing out but also on their emotions. Mr. Kent Staneart, Woodgrove’s psychology teacher, touched on the various schemes used to persuade consumers to purchase holiday items. “They play on people’s memories early. Oftentimes, they usually use scents,” he explained. No matter how early or late you decorate, stores like Costco are trying to obtain more purchases from consumers and the prematureness of Costco’s holiday items is a tactic used to complete that goal.
Regardless of the time you begin to decorate for Halloween, Christmas, or any other holiday, Costco will be there months in advance with all your celebratory needs. Regarding when holiday items arrive in-store, Fiumara stated it is “usually like two or three months before the holiday.” Other than getting you excited for the forthcoming holiday seasons, there are concrete choices as to why Costco and other well-known companies put out their holiday items so early in the season. By giving you the feeling that you are going to miss out, Costco pushes you into a state of want and makes you believe you need what you see. Even if your new Christmas tree will only be up for a couple of weeks, there is a mindset that scares us into purchasing.
