Saw these in Asda today..

[crimblecrumblescrimblescramble]

It is AUGUST.

We “stocked up” on the tubs of Roses, Celebrations, Quality Street etc well before Christmas last year… first time there was something decent to watch on tv, we cracked one open. And then another one….
By the time we got to the week before Christmas, we were sick of them and couldn’t face any chocolate over the holiday!
Lesson learnt - not buying early this year!

@lorn195 it must be across all stores it has changed. Lots of cross shoppers tonight trailing around dc looking for what they need for an age then finding it not in stock. Dd couldn't get hula hoops or original cheddars or the cropped tops she wanted or the highlighter pens , there's been no flipping bubble tea for weeks (they should have predicted the demand and ensured stocks before they put it on sale as it's all I've heard 🙄). To top it off they also had none of the cheap Sauvignon black that the cost of living crisis has reduced me to. Shortages across the board, except Xmas goodies of course!

Not being funny @crimblecrumblescrimblescramble but I saw tubs of Roses and Quality Street for sale in JULY.

There’s only four more paydays until Christmas. If you haven’t got much spare cash and you know you’ll dip into it if you put some away, then it’s quite sensible to spread the cost as soon as use by dates allow and tuck it away in a safe place. Not all of us can afford to leave thinking about Christmas until after bonfire night.

no point stocking up chocolate they'll just melt

The Range and Home Bargains also have a lot of Christmas stock in. Utter madness.

Oh Jesus, I still have one Easter egg left!!

Retailers put a lot of work into their forecasts for seasonal lines each year, but the aim is a clean sell through.

It makes more sense to order x amount (which is still an increase on last year) which has a good variety until 1/2 days before Christmas and sell through your last item on Christmas Eve, than order too much and end up having to reduce everything left with any sort of Christmas graphic on Boxing Day.

It’s a balancing act that is a lot harder than it looks. Forecasting can only go so far- you can use every LY sales figure possible to predict, but it’s ultimately just a prediction.

Much harder when it’s fresh items though rather than ambient. At least with chocolate even if it doesn’t all sell, you know you have a few months to sell it. Turkeys etc are much more expensive and after Christmas, as you know, the demand just disappears. Again, that’s why turkeys will sell out early on Christmas Eve and you’ll hear stories of Christmas being ruined. Ordering too much stock is a liability.

Nyom.

My birthday is the end of July. I regularly see Christmas cards etc out by then. If anything its LATE this year

There's be a couple of shelves, the seasonal aisle will finish Back to School, there'll be a week or two of Uni Essentials and then it'll go into Halloween and then Christmas straight after. How it always is

I nearly bought a 2024 calendar for someone's August birthday yesterday, & decided to get it for a Christmas present instead.

Yep, I saw Christmas themed dog stuff in B&M yesterday evening too

Ooh I wonder if pets at home have got their dogs Christmas toys in yet .

Yep my Mum always used to say to us as kids ‘the Chrustmas cards will be in the shops soon’ and that was in July 30 years ago. I love the build up so this makes me so excited (but would prefer they waited until September!).

I love Xmas and always start my present shopping in September but I did eye roll when I spotted the Quality Street tubs out in Tesco last weekend.

I'd just like one pumpkin spice latte and a bit of Halloween excitement before I start throwing the Heroes and Chocolate Oranges in the trolley!

My husband did bring in a couple of in a couple of bottles of spirits to put away for Christmas this month .

Halloween and Christmas in the same aisle in Home Bargains today....sigh.

A lot of Christmas food goes off before Christmas - keep an eye on the dates of cakes and mince pies. Even tubs of Quality Street last year had short dates (were possibly left over from the year before).
It's not always the saving people think it is of it doesn't keep. Or you have to buy it twice three times because you've eaten it all by November!

I used to work for Cadbury and they've always started shipping out Xmas stuff in August!!

And Easter eggs go out straight after Xmas

A lot of expats spend part of the summer in the UK and will buy Xmas things for taking back with them. I haven't bought chocolates but other Chrsitmassy things. I have bought Cadburys Creme Eggs when I've been in the UK over Xmas as usually can't get them.

Tesco have tubs of Roses etc on offer so it must be Christmas.

So depressing. Why does everything have to be fast forwarded? Why can’t people get their Christmas stuff in December, and not have to face things being out of stock because everyone bought it all in September? Ffs.

The trend towards seasonal products being out stupidly early is mainly due to 2 things - manufacturers saving money by not having as much storage space (they can't just rattle out all their Christmas production in 2 weeks, it takes most of the year) so they need to get it out to customers as it's made - and those customers also skimping on storage space so it has to go on display.

Completely agree that it's very silly though!