Katapult Konnect Blog

Holiday Shopping Starts Earlier Every Year: How Retailers Can Be Best Prepared to Win the Season

Written by Katapult | Sep 4, 2025 5:15:00 PM

The holiday season may seem like its months away, but in retail, your fourth quarter starts now. Consumers are starting their holiday shopping journeys earlier than ever, your competition is fierce, and those retailers who begin preparing today will be best positioned to capture the biggest share of holiday spend.  

By now, we all know that shoppers no longer wait for Black Friday to kick off their gift buying. But, did you know that 43% of shoppers plan to start holiday purchases in September? This is up 13 percentage points from last year!  

This “Christmas creep” isn’t just a consumer trend, it’s a competitive race. Retailers who launch campaigns, promotions, and checkout enhancements early are far more likely to win the hearts, minds and wallets of these high-intent customers. 

Timing = Results: Why Early Katapult Integration Pays Off  

Integrating Katapult before the holiday rush means you’re not just adding a new payment option, you’re tapping into our seasonal marketing engine. In recent mid-year campaigns, merchants live on Katapult and co-promoting with us saw up to a 300% lift in sales compared to the same period last year.  

Going live with us before the fourth quarter starts means that your brand will be included in Katapult’s holiday marketing campaigns, putting you in front of millions of high-intent shoppers. So when they’re ready to buy, your brand will be a top consideration. The earlier you launch, the longer your products are in front of those shoppers and the more peak-season sales you can capture.  

Pair that reach with a frictionless, flexible payment option, and you can: 

- Prevent big-ticket carts from being abandoned 
- Win more first-time holiday shoppers 
- Turn those seasonal customers into loyal repeat buyers

Turnkey Platforms Give You an Edge 

If you’re on a platform like Shopify, Magento, Salesforce or WooCommerce, you can implement meaningful checkout upgrades in weeks- sometimes days. 

For example, Katapult’s lease-to-own payment option integrates quickly without disrupting your existing checkout: 

- Shopify / Shopify Plus: Live in under an hour via app install 
- Magento: in as little as 1-3 weeks via Marketplace extension 
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud: Rapid deployment with prebuilt cartridge, go live in as few as 1-3 weeks 
- WooCommerce: Plugin activation directly from WordPress admin, go live in 1-2 weeks

These short timelines mean you can still be live before the earliest holiday shoppers hit your site: capturing sales others might miss. 

The Bottom Line: 

Holiday season success isn’t just about having the right products — it’s about being ready on time. Turnkey platform integrations let you make high-impact changes now, so you’re ready to capture every possible sale during the biggest shopping weeks of the year. 

Ready to move fast? Book your integration call and be live before the season’s peak.