Every year we see the same scenario in the last three weeks of December: crowded malls, online stores struggling to deliver thousands of orders on time and restaurants and bars packed with Christmas parties.
Sure, I know the concept of Christmas as a business has been discussed to exhaustion, but I want to put my 2 cents in.
First, let’s analyze the fact that Christmas is a great product to sell decoration, trees and symbolism even that it’s a religious holiday. There is a lesson to be learned by marketers around the world that you can maintain a pure identity to your product and still branch out into several venues and attack different market segments.
Second, how did we as a society get convinced that it’s not OK to give money as a gift but it’s OK to give or receive a gift card for a store (by the way, a GREAT deal for the stores because one of two things happen: OR you end up spending more money at the store to get what you want OR you leave a credit on your gift card because you don’t want to spend more than the card’s value and end up NEVER spending that credit). Wouldn’t it be more logical to give someone money and let them choose where they want to spend it? Just saying it.
However, if you agree or not that Christmas is a business, just keep your cool at the mall and enjoy this time with your loved ones. Because it doesn’t matter what religion you believe in, the end of the year gives us the opportunity to learn lessons from the mistakes we committed and plan a strategy for next year, professionally and personally.
Happy Holidays!
