Shoppers flock to sales

Shoppers flock to sales

Shoppers flocked to stores across the UK for the Boxing Day sales.

Thousands of bargain-hunters queued overnight at shopping centres, as shops began cutting prices and opening as early as 6.00am to tempt customers.

A survey suggested shoppers will spend almost £3bn in the one day.

Shoppers resisted the lure of buying online to hit the pavement. Many stores reported their busiest ever day.

Nonetheless, market analyst Experian says online spending is also expected to be the "biggest and busiest ever", accounting for almost £500m on Boxing Day.

Price comparison website MoneySupermarket.com said shoppers were planning to spend a total of £2.9bn in the Boxing Day sales, according to a survey that it had conducted.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said Christmas spending in shops this year was "acceptable but not exceptional".

"Christmas hasn't been a boom time for UK retailers, but it hasn't been complete doom and gloom either," said Helen Dickinson, the BRC's new director general.

She said spending by shoppers was likely to have increased in 2012 only broadly in line with rising prices, and there had been big variations in individual retail performances.

The BRC has said some High Street retailers would "undoubtedly" fail after Christmas.

"Sales were hard-fought and often driven by discounts, so cutting into margins," said Ms Dickinson.

The normal surge in pre-Christmas came late this year, partly due to shoppers holding back for a bargain, she said, and partly because many crammed their purchases into the weekend just before Christmas Eve, which fell on a Monday this year.

This year's pattern of a late pre-Christmas weekend rush to the shops was reflected in footfall data provided by analysts Experian.

The BRC director general said the outlook was not particularly encouraging: "The pressure is coming from adapting to conditions that consistently deliver minimal year-on-year sales growth.

"There is only so much cost-cutting and new efficiency retailers can achieve."

Further rises in utility bills in the New Year, as well as a focus by customers on repaying their debts, meant 2013 was likely to be characterised by "more of the same", she added.

Another factor hurting High Street retailers is the general shift to online sales.

Business recovery group Begbies Traynor has warned many shops faced the threat of closure as more customers turned to the internet.

Experian said visits to retail websites were expected to reach 126 million on Boxing Day, an increase of 31% on last year.

James Murray, from Experian, said: "Christmas 2012 is on track to be another record-breaker for online retail, outstripping 2011 on all fronts.

"The current market trends suggest that in the UK, Boxing Day will be the biggest day for online retail, with an estimated 126 million visits to online retail outlets and a massive 17 million hours spent online shopping on this day alone."