Shops stay closed during Boxing Day sales
THE traditional Boxing Day sales period is expected to be the biggest for the high street in five years despite a number of shops choosing to keep their doors shut on the day.
The average spend is predicted to be £253, up £67 on 2019 and £24 on 2022, with men set to splash out £90 more than women, according to consumer research by Barclays.
The boost to sales will be welcomed by the high street after several years of poor Boxing Day turnout following bad weather and pandemic restrictions.
The post-christmas sales traditionally see hours-long queues outside some of the biggest high-street names as people sought to bag a bargain on their favourite brands.
But several major retailers will not be opening on the high street to cash in on the post-christmas spending this Boxing Day, instead relying on online sales.
John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Wickes, Pets At Home, and Home Bargains are among the retailers remaining closed. Of the major supermarkets, Aldi, Iceland, and the majority of Waitrose stores will not open on Boxing Day.
More than three quarters of people will choose to do the majority of their shopping online instead, data show.
A John Lewis spokesman said: “Although we’re closed today, our sales have well and truly kicked off online, with lots of great deals ... We’re expecting this year’s sale to be one of our best yet, and it’s the perfect opportunity for customers to pick up a bargain.”
Consumers are not expected to venture out either. Scott Parsons, chief operating officer at Unibail-rodamco-westfield, said the company’s huge shopping centres in London saw 300,000 visitors during the sales period last year, down 17 per cent on its busiest Boxing Day in 2019.
And the importance of physical Boxing Day sales for retailers has waned as shoppers increasingly spend online and shops implement Black Friday discounting techniques from the US.
The Office for National Statistics revealed that retail sales volumes rose by 1.3 per cent in November, far exceeding analysts’ expectations of 0.4 per cent. Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, said: “While Boxing Day remains the most popular day to start bargain-hunting, retailers are no longer putting all their eggs in one basket and are instead spreading out their discounts to boost ongoing demand – very similar to what we saw with early Black Friday deals in November.”
Several brands told The Daily Telegraph that they were closed to allow their staff members an extra day off at Christmas.