By Jeff Green—The fall season only just officially started and retailers are already beginning to move forward with their holiday plans. After a disappointing summer shopping season and underwhelming back-to-school numbers, many retailers are figuring the earlier the better to get consumers thinking about holiday shopping. And with only 26 days and four weekends of holiday shopping this year, an early roll out may not be a bad tactic. But will it work and help spark better sales? In my latest Retail Rap column, I discuss why retailers are choosing to initiate holiday shopping earlier, and provide my initial sales predictions for this year’s holiday shopping season.

To me, this year is a bit different in some respects. The summer was a disappointment, and back-to-school numbers were underwhelming almost to the point of being alarming. I talked about this in more detail in my last column, but the fact that second quarter numbers were so weak almost across the board has prompted many retailers to significantly scale back their projected earnings for the remainder of the year. In that context, the early move to pivot to holiday mode makes a bit more sense: retail has been in a lull, and it’s only natural to move on to a traditionally lucrative period.

Check out the full article from my recurring column, Retail Rap, at Chain Store Age.