Amid supply chain snarls, retailers pitch early holiday shopping

Santa’s sleigh is coming out of its garage a little earlier this year.

Target , Pottery Barn , Ulta Beauty , Gap  and PacSun are among retailers promoting holiday decor and gifts as early as mid-September amid a global supply-chain logjam that threatens to limit availability of some merchandise later during the holiday season.

Americans are expected to spend about $1.3 trillion this holiday season, a 7% to 9% increase over last year, according to Deloitte. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, generally marks the start of the season in the United States, although major retailers typically start advertising holiday merchandise in early November.

This year, they face shipping snarls and other logistics challenges that could leave them unable to meet consumer demand during the fourth quarter if people wait until the last minute to make gift purchases. Target is launching holiday promotions between Oct. 10 and 12, compared to Oct. 13 last year.

“We think advertisers will start advertising very soon to persuade consumers” to buy Christmas gifts and merchandise, said Jed Meyer, senior vice president media domain leader at data analytics firm Kantar.

“That’s compounded by the fact that there’s a lot of anticipation that there may be delivery delays from online shopping, especially ... close to the holidays.”