Christmas in July Remains a Hit With Young Shoppers, but Inflation Concerns Linger

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With four months to go until the holiday shopping season begins in earnest with Thanksgiving week and Black Friday, shoppers can get an early taste of deals from Christmas in July sales. CivicScience thoroughly tracked shopper behavior before, during, and after Prime Day earlier this month, and continued by polling early holiday intent amid the latest July sales.

According to the latest reading of CivicScience’s recurring Christmas in July sale data, 1-in-5 U.S. adults have either already shopped (9%) one of these sale events or plan to do so soon (11%). This aligns with new data which finds 22% of those familiar with Christmas in July festivities (such as sales events and TV programming) holding a favorable view of them – while a much higher percentage (38%) view them unfavorably.

Women are more likely than men to view Christmas in July favorably by eight percentage points (26% versus 18%). But Gen Z adults overwhelmingly are the demographic group the most favorable to Christmas in July fare, with nearly half of them holding a positive opinion.

Beyond the sales, there’s an early glimpse of December TV programming – and nothing says the Christmas season quite like Hallmark movies. The network is once again capitalizing on the early taste of the holidays with two new movies premiering for its Christmas in July lineup. Likelihood to watch the Hallmark Channel during Christmas in July is up two percentage points from 2021 interest levels (24% are at least ‘somewhat likely’ to watch’ compared to 22% in 2021).

What does Christmas in July mean for holiday shopping?

But are Christmas in July sales largely utilized for deals in the here and now or for the early head start on holiday shopping? Some correlation is to be expected, but it might surprise you just how strong the correlation is between favorability toward Christmas in July festivities and likelihood to get a head start (or procrastinate on) holiday shopping. The earlier someone starts their holiday shopping, the more likely they are to be pro-Christmas in July.

A majority of U.S. adults think it’s currently too early to start thinking about Christmas / holiday shopping – with 3-in-10 claiming it isn’t. The latter figure is higher than the percentage of adults who feel favorably about Christmas in July and those who’ve either shopped or plan to shop the sales this month. Those with the highest level of concern about inflation are the most likely to say it’s too early to start thinking about holiday shopping (58%) and the least likely to say they’ll start thinking about it soon (13%).

CivicScience will continue to provide the earliest insights on the holiday shopping market. For a glimpse of our freshest data before anyone else sees it, book a meeting today.