Well if it makes me feel any better, Gap and most other American stores insult the intelligence of Americans (perhaps considered an oxymoron by many British...) too.

We use "autumn" here as well as "fall." They're more or less interchangeable, with autmn being slightly more formal, having a whopping two syllables.

U.S. retailers love the time between October and January because there is pretty much a holiday per month, leading up to their biggest money maker, Christmas. Hence "the holiday" season is the time when shoppers are more easily separated from their money. It can be rather nauseating (or as many of my patients say, "nauseratin") to see Christmas decorations up in stores well in advance of any real cultural feelings that the Christmas season has arrived.