Boxing Day Sales Set To Plummet For Second Year Running

Shoppers are set to shun the high street on Boxing Day, as in-store sales are forecast to fall on 26th December for the second year in a row, according to a new report.

The research, commissioned by VoucherCodes.co.uk and carried out by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), reveals that purchases in-store are expected to total £3.25bn for Boxing Day 2019, which is a decrease of 12.4% compared to last year. This continues the trend in dropping figures from 2018, where in-store sales were down by 6.5% on the 2017 spending total.

Predictions include:

• In-store sales are expected to drop more than 12% from 2018
• £14bn will be spent between Boxing Day and New Year
• The average UK household will spend £459 during the December sales
• Online sales to rise 10% year-on-year

Boxing Day, Thursday 26 December

Boxing Day in the UK is a public holiday and normally falls on the 26th December. In the last 20 years, the New Year or January sales have moved from the beginning of January to start on 26th December. This only occurs in the UK. Our view is that the offline (store-based) sales will fall again this year from £3,970m in 2017, to £3,711m in 2018 and £3,250m for 2019. However, it isn’t all bad news for retailers as it’s anticipated that online sales will rise.

For the last two years, there have been some signs of promotional fatigue amongst consumers: by Boxing Day people will have experienced many discount events, such as Black Friday, and 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.

Note that shopper numbers include people who visit the sales on successive days and/or shop online and shop instore. The value of sales is increased by a large number of foreign tourists who visit in time to take advantage of the sales and often tend to be high spenders.

Source : Voucher Codes

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