Boxing Day Sale - According to retail experts, the Boxing Day Sale this year will have the biggest Boxing Day discounts since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. In the UK, shoppers have reportedly been descending on their High Streets for the annual Boxing Day Sale, with some having even queued since the early hours hoping to secure good bargains, reports the BBC.
Millions of shoppers can expect to be rewarded for their retail efforts with bargains from stores such as House of Fraser, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis. These retail outlets will reportedly be slashing their prices to clear stocks before new collections arrive for January.
Retailers are also expected to ring up sales of nearly £3bn with Boxing Day Sale, as people are more opt to spend their gift cards and cash they have received over the Christmas season as opposed to giving gifts, according to The Guardian.
For this year's Boxing Day Sale, there will reportedly be unbelievable offers in stores as well as online. Hundreds of pounds will be knocked off the price off of designer handbags, flat screen TVs and Apple iPhone5s, the Daily Mail reports.
Jason Gordon, consumer business partner at Deloitte, believes that the scale of the discounting this Boxing Day Sale will mirror 2008's collapse of the US investment bank which had a dramatic effect on consumer confidence. Retailers then were forced to slash prices to clear stock bought before a more upbeat trading period.
"This a very challenging period for apparel retailers," said Gordon. "In clothing most retailers have not got on top of their stock given the unseasonally warm weather."
Since Deloitte monitors the pricing of more than 50 retailers, Gordon has an idea that discounting before Christmas and before the Boxing Day Sale was greater and far more widespread than in 2013.
"This is the fourth year in a row we've seen this [pre-Christmas] trend," he said. "If merchandise needs clearing, it needs clearing. Some bold decisions will have been made by retailers on the level of markdown rather than have reduced stock hanging around in stores into February."
As for online shopping, the web cast an even bigger shadow over the high street this holiday season than in previous years. Retailers were reportedly caught off-guard by bargain demand on Black Friday, as IMRG and Experian analysts estimated that £810m was spent on retailers' websites, as well as in-store collection services which struggled to cope with the deluge of web orders.
Many chains such as Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Currys PC World reportedly began their online sales Christmas Eve. However, according to experts, some of the best deals can only be found in stores since retailers make aggressive price cuts to clear stocks quickly.
Boxing Day Sale still proves to be the most important trading day of the year for big-ticket household goods retailers.
"Boxing Day [sale] remains a huge attraction for shoppers and we can't see that changing," according to Westfield director Myf Ryan of its two London malls. Last year, they reportedly attracted 360,000 visitors.
"Last year we had queues out of the door on Boxing Day [sale] by 5am and retailers like Next and Zara experienced record sales. This year we expect an exceptionally busy day yet again," he added.
For the Boxing Day Sale in upmarket London, department stores Selfridges and Harrods have also pulled out the stops to entice shoppers to the West End of the city. Apart from a red carpet for early shoppers, Harrods also laid out a string quartet and complimentary mince pies and blankets until the doors open at 10am.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
