In this Dec. 26, 2010, file photo, shoppers make their way in the snow in Union Square, in New York. AP Photo
In this Dec. 26, 2009 file photo, early morning shoppers take advantage of the after-Christmas sale at Target in Colma, Calif. AP Photo
NEW YORK — When Emily Russell’s two young sons wake up on Christmas morning, they’ll find that Santa left them a note instead of the video games they requested.
“Hey, I couldn’t get by your house last night,” Russell, a single mother from Kernersville, N.C., plans to write to her sons and sign Santa’s name. “Your mom is going to take you to the store when she can.”
Some people have always postponed Christmas celebrations because their jobs don’t pause for the holiday. But in the weak economy, folks are delaying Christmas for another reason: money.
Deloitte’s annual holiday survey for the first time asked shoppers whether they planned to wait until January to do the bulk of their shopping for Christmas. Six percent of the more than 5,000 respondents said they did.
The strategy can pay off. After Christmas, retailers offer discounts of up to 75 percent on a wider variety of items than they do in the weeks leading up to the holiday.
It’s something cost-conscious shoppers have gotten hip to. Retail sales during the seven days after Christmas rose year-over-year in three of the past five years, according to research firm ShopperTrak. And last year, year-over-year online spending grew by 22 percent on Dec. 26 and 56 percent on Dec. 27, according to computer giant IBM’s retail consulting arm.
Elaine Wu and her husband plan to wait until the day after Christmas to shop because they’ve agreed not to spend more than $150 for each other — a difficult task given they like to splurge on upscale Marc Jacobs handbags and Armani shoes.
Wu says she’s also waiting until after Christmas to shop for some of her friends. Real friends, she figures, wouldn’t want her to go through the headache of shopping in the pre-Christmas madness anyway.
“Just because it’s a day late doesn’t mean it’s going to be any less special or didn’t come from the same sentiment,” says Wu, 36, a marketing manager for the startup website BlogHer in Silicon Valley. “It just means that it’s going to save us 60 percent.”
Postponing Christmas Day, originally a Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Christ, is almost unheard of in some circles. About 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas — including 80 percent of non-Christians, according to Gallup polls.
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