Thursday, December 19, 2013

Why do they start selling xmas food so early?

I've already complained about the habit of starting with xmas decorations and whatnot at the beginning of November, but one thing that particularly baffles me is that the grocery store started with the xmas food at the beginning of November.

By "xmas food" I mean food that is intended to be served at holiday parties and food that is intended to be given as a gift - cheese platters, assorted nuts in decorative boxes, those Italian cake things, etc.

I doubt a significant portion of the population is having holiday parties in early November.  And people are going to want to serve or gift reasonably fresh food (or at least convince themselves that they are doing so) so no one is going to buy pastries nearly two months ahead of time, and they're certainly not going to buy a cheese platter that early!

Who's their target audience here?  Do these things even sell early on?

4 comments:

laura k said...

I believe their target market is anyone who will buy it. It looks enticing, people want to eat it, they buy it, eat it long before the holidays, then buy more.

But I'm thinking more of the President's Choice frozen appetizers that only appear around the holidays. We can't be the only household that buys them early, then can't resist making and eating them early... then buys more. Cheese platters, not so much.

impudent strumpet said...

That's true, I forgot that households with multiple people might be able to just eat the stuff as food.

Lorraine said...

Eggnog makers seek a year-round market

impudent strumpet said...

Ewww, eggnog!