At the beginning of November you can start hinting about the holidays, some people are ready; others aren't. The standard is to start any time after October, but we want to be sensitive to our customers. |
By [mid-November] you'll start to feel the inflection of the holidays, as long as you've planned well, it frees you up to start thinking about January and the first quarter. |
We started in January to secure some of the prime places. Planning for specific promotions is done closer to the second quarter; we don't have a good gauge of specific products until later in the year. |