One in four consumers have already started holiday shopping: Nielsen

The Nielsen Company reports, despite holiday decorations seeming to appear on the shelves earlier with each passing year, November marks the start of the holiday season. A full 26% of consumers have already started their shopping as early as September!

According to a recent Nielsen survey, 49% of Americans plan to start their holiday shopping before the Black Friday weekend shopping spree begins, starting on Thanksgiving evening. Black Friday and Cyber Monday, however, are still key moments in time for making holiday purchases, the company said.

According to the most recent Nielsen Total Consumer Report, 43% of consumers consider online purchasing better for their schedules, which could bode well for online retailers promoting Cyber Monday deals this year. What’s more is that non-food categories drove significant e-commerce growth, with online dollars up in pet care (73.7%), personal care (32.9%) and household care (23.6%) as of 52 weeks ended July 1, 2017. The growth in these departments could be leading indicators of what’s to come during the holidays for online shoppers.