Boxing Day sales shelves ‘ravaged’ by Black Friday returns

By BLACK Friday has ruined this year’s Boxing Day and January sales, retail experts have warned, as a record number of returned online orders means stock will be delayed in warehouses, potentially leaving shop shelves empty.

As a result of higher rates of internet shopping than expected and returns, up to one in five “this season” items will be absent in today’s store sales, returns firm Clear Returns has warned.

The company said that since it takes warehouses several days to process and prepare items for resale, huge volumes of Black Friday returns would not make it back into shops in time.

For bricks-and-mortar shops, it is another kick in the teeth by online stores, which took most of the Black Friday trade this year.

The level of stock “in transit” will hamper their profits by leaving them with less to sell today.

A record £1 billion worth of items are expected to be returned after Black Friday online customers adopted a “buy now, decide later” attitude instead of braving the high street.

Last year some stores – mostly women’s fashion outlets – found more than 60pc of online Black Friday sales were returned within 30 days.

George Mensah, an expert at consumer analyst Shore Capital, said the volume of online returns was a major concern. “Last year the disruption caused by having to deal with a high level of returned items in late December meant retailers struggled around Christmas time, and this year it could be even worse,” he said.

Peoplevox, a warehouse management company, said many major retailers’ warehouses were inefficient at dealing with high volumes of returns because they were using “ageing” software – and in some cases just paper and pens – to track parcels.

Despite restricted availability of some items, shop£1bn pers who are able to find the items they want may be glad they held out on Black Friday as discounts on many items are now far larger.

Bigger retailers are offering discounts of up to 90pc. Debenhams, for example, is offering an Alice & You black sequin dress reduced by 86 per cent, from £60 to £8.

The Entertainer is cutting prices by up to 80 per cent, and there will be up to 70 per cent off at M&S, H&M, New Look and Topshop, as well as 60 per cent off at Argos, and 50 per cent off at Gap and River Island, MoneySavingExpert.com said.