Boxing Day bargain hunters across the UK have braved the queues this morning as they take advantage of lower prices across stores that have slashed goods by up to 75 per cent in a desperate bid to lure online shoppers to the high street.
Retailers launched their sales online this morning, but it didn’t stop savvy shoppers lining up outside shops in a bid to get their hands on the best bargains.
Many across the UK experienced a mild Christmas Day yesterday but the Met Office today warned that shoppers may have to battle wind and rain, with some parts of the country expecting to see up to 1.2 inches of rainfall.
Online sales today are expected to rise by 10 per cent on 2018 to £1.14 billion. To combat this, big-name stores slashed prices yesterday, with retailers such as Debenhams offering savings of up to 75 per cent. Marks & Spencer and House of Fraser also started their sales early.
Huge reductions are forecast, with stores sitting on a mountain of stock – particularly winter clothes and shoes – that failed to sell for Christmas.
Despite prices being drastically cut eco friendly shoppers across the UK are set to spend less in this year’s Boxing Day sales as many worry about the impact fats fashion has on the environment.
Savvy shoppers braving the early morning queues today will spend £200 million less than last year with two thirds of shoppers saying they won’t be making as many purchases as previous years.
Around four in 10 adults are set to spend an average of £186 each and £8.7 billion all in all, according to research from Barclaycard.
Shoppers at the Next Boxing Day sale at the Next store on Queen Street in Cardiff, Wales are pictured above earlier this morning
Over 3000 bargain hunters queued up in a huge long line around the Silverlink Retail Park in North Tyneside for the opening of the 6am Next store Boxing Day sale
One woman in Cardiff was pictured this morning holding a wall decoration with a large Next bag as she triumphantly walked out of the store
Shoppers in Cardiff queued from the early hours of the morning for the annual sale with Next opening its doors to customers at 6am this morning
However, due to concerns about the environment, 62% intend to make fewer purchases, rising to 68 per cent of women.
Almost seven in 10 consumers, 67 per cent also plan to spend less on ‘fast fashion’ because of the potential environmental impact of its production.
The predictions will cause alarm at the end of another tough year for the beleaguered UK retail sector.
Store closures, business failures and job losses have continued as online has continued to drive growth and competition in the sector.
Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of all credit and debit card transactions in the UK, said Boxing Day spending was 4.8 per cent higher in 2018 than 2017, but a record Black Friday this year could mean that shoppers may have already made the majority of their purchases.
Just 33 per cent said they planned to spend more on Boxing Day than they did during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
Online spending is also predicted to overshadow in-store receipts, with 60 per cent of post-Christmas sales shoppers making the majority of their purchases from the comfort of their homes.
Rob Cameron, chief executive of Barclaycard Payments, said: ‘Despite Boxing Day remaining a key moment in the retail calendar, savvy shoppers have been planning their large purchases throughout the entire festive sales period, which begins long before December.
‘Our data for Black Friday and Cyber Monday revealed a huge jump in transaction volumes this year, so it’s not surprising that consumers expect to have less money to spend after Christmas, so retailers need to take that into account.
‘What’s more, our research shows that shoppers are increasingly thinking about how their purchases impact the environment. Forward-thinking retailers should be making a conscious effort to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability, in order to boost their appeal – and their revenue.’
VoucherCodes.co.uk and the Centre for Retail Research have also predicted that shoppers will shun the high street on Boxing Day, with in-store sales set to drop by more than 12 per cent on last year.
The study suggests that in-store spending will total £3.25 billion – a decrease of 12.4 per cent on last year – while online spending increases by 10 cent year on year.
Consumers had shown signs of ‘promotional fatigue’ for the last two years after the ‘many’ discount events by Boxing Day, including Black Friday.
The report says: ‘We expect the numbers attending the sales to reduce. However, it is anticipated that average spending per household in the sales will still be around £459.’
Opinium Research surveyed 2,002 UK adults online for Barclaycard between November 29 and December 3.