[ad_1]
Shoppers are expected to spend 27% less than last year on Boxing Day sales, as many major streets across the country remain closed.
Retailers in the UK are still expected to raise a total of £ 3.2bn, but more than half of that will be shipped online, according to a Center for Retail Research (CRR) report compiled for coupon codes.
The number of out-of-home shoppers is expected to be nearly half what it was last year, according to analytics firm Springboard, as the pandemic accelerates a trend in the past four years of fewer Britons heading to stores on June 26. December.
“Where the stores can open there will be some demand. It will be an opportunity to get out of the house, but I think people will be cautious and stay local, “said Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s director of insight, who said she was looking forward to” the quietest Boxing Day ever. “
Various parts of England, including Sussex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, will join London and other parts of the south and east of England, including Kent, Essex and Berkshire, in the level 4 restrictions on Boxing Day, that is, retailers ” non-essentials “that sell clothes and toys. , furniture and appliances will be closed.
Main streets in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also be closed, and Marks & Spencer joins John Lewis in deciding to remain closed across the country on Boxing Day this year.
Joshua Bamfield, director of CRR, said the latest restrictions had “it devastated the retail outlook for non-essential retailers in those areas. “
He said: “The total spend figure would be even lower, except for the fact that buyers will increasingly turn to online sellers, especially those in Tier 4 areas. Online sales are projected to increase 56% from 2019 to 2020, which is positive in light of everything else. “
Jace Tyrrell, chief executive of the New West End Company trade body, which represents retailers in central London, said closures in the capital would wipe out its members’ collections worth £ 2 billion in November and December. .
Non-essential shops will be open in major English cities, including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Bristol, but even there retail bosses expect the number of shoppers to decline as families are concerned about contracting a virulent new strain of the virus. Covid.
Gavin Prior, director of the Metrocentre center in Gateshead, said the number of shoppers had decreased by 30% year-over-year and had declined further since the government briefing on the new Covid strain last week. He said the biggest fear was that more of the Northeast would soon be forced to enter Level 4.
Prior said that if retailers were allowed to open, the center was well prepared to receive shoppers safely. “Boxing Day is a great day for us in the Northeast. If we are allowed to trade it, we will have all security precautions in place, as we have throughout the peak. “
The excitement of the Boxing Day sales will also be tempered as many struggling stores, especially clothing retailers, have been offering deep discounts for weeks to eliminate mountains of unsold inventory.
John Lewis was ready to start his clearance sale through his website at 5pm on Christmas Eve. Harrods, which last year entertained shoppers queuing for Boxing Day with a band and magicians, will be closed this year.
