Grab your wallet and round up the family to do some fall shopping, but don’t forget your holiday list. It may be early, but retailers are off to a running start.

According to the National Retail Federation, one-fifth of retail industry sales (19.9%) occur during the holiday season, making it the most important time period of the year for businesses. The NRF defines holiday sales as those which occur in November or December.

“The biggest time to shop is after Thanksgiving. It’s to get people thinking about it,” said junior Megan Henderson, a marketing major and member of the American Advertising Foundation. “It’s new and people begin to start asking for things,”

Eric Castellucci, a freshman marketing major and AAF member said, “[Businesses] do what they can – it’s just business. It is not harming anyone. It is just advertising.”

The holidays start early in many retail businesses.

“I think that everyone’s doing it,” said Julie Hillery, Kohl’s Professor of Retailing and Merchandising.

“It’s to keep up with competition and to get a jump start on their numbers,” she said. “One will see more promotions and sales this year because it will be tough to meet last year’s numbers. Last year, the industry had a seven percent increase for the retail industry for the holiday season.”

Constantine Argiris, a senior pre-law and political science major, works at Express in the Algonquin Commons where the store is already gearing up for the holiday season.

“Christmas is the only holiday that goes from October to July,” he said, “It’s ridiculous.”

Vendors use a variety of ways to communicate promotions and sales to buyers.

Web sites are convenient, save time and are cost effective for consumers, Hillery said.

But you can be sure to see plenty of sales and promotions going on outside of the Web.

“Sometimes I get sucked in,” said Emily Pohl, a freshman undecided major. “It depends on who I’m with. Especially my mom because she’ll say, ‘Oh, sale’ and we will get a ton of clothes.”