UK Boxing Day sales expected to plummet

Boxing Day , which falls on December 26th every year, is the day after Christmas or the first working day after Christmas. It is a holiday celebrated in some parts of the Commonwealth .

According to data from research firm VoucherCodes , assuming non-essential stores can operate normally , sales on UK Boxing Day this year are expected to reach 3.94 billion pounds, a 10% decrease from 4.4 billion pounds in 2019 and a 1% decrease from last year .

Even if non-essential shops are allowed to open , people will consciously avoid crowded places such as high streets and shopping malls due to concerns about the Omicron virus variant , and Boxing Day sales are expected to fall 23% compared to 2019.

At the same time, the agency said that British consumers will spend 13.9 billion pounds between December 25 and December 31 this year , a 9% drop from 2019. Revenue from the high street will also fall 30% from 3.6 billion pounds in 2019 to 2.3 billion pounds , which is indeed a bleak Christmas sales period .

However, online retailers will be the biggest winners. This year, online spending in the UK is expected to reach 1.67 billion pounds on Boxing Day, up 46% from 1.14 billion pounds in 2019 , but down 16% from 1.7 billion pounds last Christmas .

The growth in online sales has, to a certain extent, once again confirmed the general trend of consumers' shopping habits gradually shifting from offline to online under the influence of the epidemic .

In addition, according to the data recently released by the UK National Statistics Office , in the week ending December 16, an average of 1 in every 45 people in the UK was unfortunately infected with the new coronavirus .

Although the British government has previously stated that no new epidemic prevention and control orders will be announced before Christmas , it is not clear what will happen next . It is not ruled out that the British government will issue stricter restrictions , and it is also uncertain whether non- essential stores will be closed .

Given the uncertainty of whether there will be a lockdown after Christmas , many consumers are stocking up through online channels in preparation for a possible lockdown after Christmas.

In this regard, Angus Drummond, commercial director of VoucherCodes , said that Boxing Day is one of the holidays with the biggest discounts and the hottest sales in the UK retail calendar, but it is also the holiday most affected by the epidemic in the past two years .

In fact, it is not just the UK. All parts of the world are suffering from the impact of the new coronavirus and its variants. All walks of life are experiencing severe tests and challenges. All each of us can do is to manage our business with our heart and try to survive this challenge.

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