November’s Black Friday sales have given way to the deal days of October as retailers work to jump-start holiday spending.

It wasn’t that long ago that retailers waited until later in the season to begin holiday sales. As recently as 2019, Target’s sales event started on November 8, while Amazon’s began on November 1 and Walmart’s on October 25.

This year, Amazon held its Amazon Prime Early Access sale for Prime members from October 11-12, Walmart held its Holiday Rollback sale October 10-13, and Target had a Deal Days event earlier this month (October 6-9) and began price cuts last week that will run through most of November.

In addition to jump-starting holiday spending, licensing executives said these early sales dates could also be the result of some retailers taking in inventory up to two months early this year in order to avoid the shipping delays experienced in 2021.

“I doubt we’ll ever go back to the Black Friday sales of old. What is happening now, as far as sales dates, is going to be the new normal,” a licensee executive said.  “Once retailers headed down this path, there was no turning back.”

Amazon Prime VP Jamil Ghani, in an interview with Bloomberg, said the eCommerce giant’s earlier sales events are the result of the current economic environment making savings “more important than ever to consumers.” In fact, Amazon held two Prime Days this year, with the first taking place in July.

Part of Amazon’s Prime Day efforts included a curated assortment of top brands designed to supply Prime members with everything they need heading into the holidays, Ghani said. This included discounts on licensed goods, including Disney toys and apparel (up to 60%), Jazwares’ CoComelon toys (up to 59%) and DC Comics toys and apparel (up to 66%).

Amazon Prime Day sales are forecast to hit $12 billion this year, up from $11.2 billion last year and $7.16 billion in 2019, according to Statista.

Despite strong early holiday sales from a number of retailers, many suppliers and retailers have scaled back earlier forecasts for revenue growth in response to increasing inflation.

The consulting firm Deloitte is projecting a 4-6% overall increase in U.S. holiday sales, down from an 8.5% gain ($1.3 trillion) in 2021 when global markets were still recovering from a pandemic-ravaged 2020. Sales increased 4.1% in 2019.

In contrast, online sales are forecast to increase 12.8-14.3% this year to $240-260 billion.

“As inflation weighs on consumer demand, we can expect consumers to continue to shift how they spend their holiday budget this upcoming season,” said Nick Handrinos, U.S. retail, wholesale, distribution, and consumer products leader at Deloitte. “Retail sales are set to increase as a result of higher prices, and this dynamic has the potential to further drive eCommerce sales as consumers look for online deals to maximize their spending.”