What happened this bank holiday weekend?

The Christmas bank holiday weekend can be spent in many different ways but statistics reveal that for many Brits shopping was high on the priority list. To be precise, 22 million people hit the shops this Boxing Day resulting in a new record of ￡3.74 billion total Boxing Day sales spend!  This record could be explained by the mild weather, by Boxing Day falling on a Saturday and by real wage growth finally returning after five whole years. Shops took an incredible ￡5.75million every MINUTE, up 6% on last year, making it the highest amount spent in a single day ever. Even Christmas Day saw its sales up by 21% on last year as shoppers felt they could interrupt their Christmas with some online bargain-hunting.  To look even deeper at this figure, John Lewis reported a 10.7% increase in revenue on Christmas from 2014 and Selfridge’s online sales double on Christmas from last year. Christmas Day in fact took over ￡700 million. However, sales on Sunday were down by 21.3% compared to the same day last year possibly due to the reduced trading hours on a Sunday and dramatic floods in Northern areas.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boxing-day-sales-shoppers-spend-7075806

https://www.964eagle.co.uk/news/business-news/1837170/bargain-hunters-hit-shops-for-christmas-sales/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/27/online-christmas-sales-shoppers-new-record-store-frenzy

https://www.burtonmail.co.uk/Boxing-Day-sales-boom-post-Christmas-figures/story-28430585-detail/story.html

So what are the reasons behind these sales being so successful? It could be due to shops such as Debenhams, Gap, M&S and others improving their discounts from 50% off to 60%/70% but I think there is more going on behind this. Firstly, the product that is on sale which you think is an absolute bargain in reality is actually an out of season product that has been waiting around in the stock room for the past year. The founder of deals website Lovethesales.com stated himself that the “crazy discounts” in many cases are old stock and may not be of good quality. "If the products have been sat around for a year or two and are not going anywhere, retailers will accept a much lower price in the hope of acquiring a new customer who might come back and spend at normal prices in future." However, a spokesperson from Selfridges countered this argument by saying that the majority of their products in the sales are from the latest season. "Holding on to sale stock from season to season just doesn't make sense to us and we manage stock accordingly. That's why we always have deep discounts from day one in both our summer sale and winter sale, which we were the first fashion retailer to start on Boxing Day, and that's why customers often see our sales as some of the most exciting.” It can be seen in recent data that Selfridges sales have been a massive success this year as between 9am and 10am this Boxing Day they saw their most profitable hour in their 100 years, ￡2 million sales. The second reason for the success of sales could be explained by ‘yo-yo pricing’. Retailers only needed to sell a product at the list price for 28 days every six months in order to advertise a discount legally so in November if the retailer puts the price up, they can just bring it back down to the original price before this rise and make it appear to be a bargain. This is legal and common in the selling of kitchens and with Wickes and Homebase. However, major suppliers no longer take part in this including John Lewis and B&Q.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/12071967/Record-third-day-of-winter-sales-but-did-you-spot-the-marketing-tricks.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/Boxing-Day-Sales/12069616/Boxing-Day-sales-2015-deals-opening-times.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11311940/Beware-tricks-behind-some-Boxing-Day-sales-shoppers-are-warned.html

It is also worth mentioning that of the 10.7% John Lewis revenue increase on Christmas Day, mentioned at the start of this blog, 75% of this came from mobile phones. As we look towards 2016 it is important to recognise the growing importance of mobile within store. Sales made on a smartphone device grew by 97% year-on-year, while purchases made on a tablet reached a record low of just 12%, demonstrating a notable shift in mobile spending habits. I personally would rather use my laptop to shop online than my smartphone but in some rare cases I would also use my phone in store to find the best prices. This is also a trend amongst Brits as 41% of UK shoppers, equivalent to almost 22 million people, use their mobile to find best deals when in-store.

https://internetretailing.net/2015/12/the-ghost-of-mobile-christmas-past/

https://internetretailing.net/2015/12/showrooming-hitting-christmas-shopping-with-41-of-uk-shoppers-using-mobile-to-find-best-deals-when-in-store/

On a final note, you’d probably imagine Black Friday to be the sales day of the year with the most violence. However, Boxing Day may be able to be thought of in quite a literal sense after this Saturday. From violent fist fights over car parking spaces to a 16-year old machete row, it is very important to remain safe during sales.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/boxing-day-sales-shoppers-in-7080178

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/boy-16-charged-over-machete-row-during-boxing-day-sales-in-bromley-shopping-centre-a3145166.html

It would is great to know if there anything you agree/disagree with or find interesting in this post. as well as any shopping experiences you had over the weekend. Please comment below and I’d also just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy New Year!