90% OFF? FIND OUT WHERE IN OUR NEW YEAR SALES GUIDE
We knew stores were panicking. But ...
WITH sale prices being slashed by up to 90 per cent in a bid to tempt shoppers to part with their cash, the High Street, it seems, is in a state of panic.
Some consumer experts believe that slashing prices so recklessly ultimately leads to a loss of consumer confidence.
A recent survey, for example, for Radio 4’s consumer programme, You And Yours, showed that 60 per cent of us believe that a retailer’s image is devalued if it is always on sale.
With this in mind, perhaps, some stores, such as Marks & Spencer, have kept their nerve and are sticking — for now, at least — to the traditional 50 per cent discount.
Other retailers, however, are simply desperate to empty their shelves. Bad weather, online competition and consumer nervousness over the economy are all believed to be contributing factors to the jitters on the High Street.
Research last month by business recovery expert Begbies Traynor shows the number of retailers in ‘significant financial distress’ is 43,677 — a rise of 22 per cent on a year ago.
Spokesman Julie Palmer said: ‘Shoppers are savvier and prepared to search for the best deals, having grown wise to gimmicks and discounts on offer in store, which many now realise may not be as good as they first appear.’
But, as we illustrate here, the retail crisis has led to some genuine bargains to be had . . .