UK shoppers expected to spend £3.7bn on Boxing Day
Shoppers are expected to spend £3.7bn, this Boxing Day, up only 1.3% on 2023, with high streets less busy as shoppers snap up beauty and technology bargains online.The ability to click for bargains from the sofa means post-Christmas discounts actually begin before most families have touched a sprout or a slice of turkey as it is now possible to begin spending in the sales from midnight on Christmas Eve.More than 11 million people were expected to buy online on Christmas Day, up 3.
6% year on year, according to research by analysts at GlobalData for Vouchercodes.The number of shoppers on Boxing Day is expected to be similar to a rather flat 2023 as a rise in online shoppers is expected to be offset by a fall in those visiting physical stores.There has been a gradual decline in spending on high streets on 26 December over recent years, according to Diane Wehrle at Rendle Intelligence and Insights, partly because some big retailers – including most John Lewis outlets and Marks & Spencer – choose to give their staff a break and remain closed.More complex families, which may involve several celebratory meals in different locations, and difficulties with transport all hold up trade on the traditional start to the January sales.However, last year Boxing Day sales were 7.
5% higher than in 2022, led by a 9% rise online, while in-store sales rose by just under 2%, driven largely by inflation.This year, inflation has eased, which, along with pay rises and benefit increases for many people, has begun to soften the cost of living crisis, leaving more space for spending on treats.Sales growth on holidays as well as health and beauty are expected to continue to be strong trends in 2025.Beauty sales are being helped by social media promotion, which is driving interest in new premium skincare and cosmetics as well as technology such as LED face masks.The return to working in offices and wider socialising is also helping sales.
However, spending on fashion, which makes up almost a quarter of retail sales, is expected to be down amid discounting prompted by a mild autumn,Richard Lim, the chief executive of the specialist analysts Retail Economics, said that Boxing Day had lost out to the US-inspired Black Friday and Cyber Monday for bargain hunters,“By the time it comes to Boxing Day most people have done their Christmas shopping and there is not the same kind of appetite to go out on another splurge of discounted sales,” Lim said,He said the evidence from Black Friday trading was that Christmas trading overall “was going to be OK but we are unlikely to see strong figures”,Sales are expected to be better than last year as the cost of living crisis is subsiding, and that growth could continue into the early part of next year.
Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionPremium food, clothing and technology purchases are expected to drive a 5% jump in festive spending to £22.7bn this year, according to figures from the advisory firm PwC, that suggest UK shopping will top the first post-pandemic Christmas in 2021.However, Lim said Retail Economics was “more pessimistic” about the second half of next year as changes to employer national insurance contributions were likely to spur inflation as they added to costs for retailers.“Retailers will be passing on those pressures on costs.It won’t be anywhere near the levels of inflation there was a couple of years ago but it will not be where we were expecting it to be,” Lim added.
However, analysts at Mastercard have predicted that consumer spending is likely to strengthen next year as disposable income has risen led by wage growth and reduced savings rates.They are expecting shoppers to begin “trading up” to pricier brands, reversing a trend towards supermarket own labels and away from designer clothing and footwear brands.Spending on travel, dining out and electronics is all expected to increase.
From dream to reality: Go-op, Britain’s first cooperative railway
The idea for the country’s first cooperative rail service came to Alex Lawrie in 2004 after another frustrating trip across Somerset.Having moved to Yeovil four years earlier with his young family, his job as a cooperative development manager involved daily trips across the south-west trying to set up member-owned businesses.A reluctant motorist, he quickly became frustrated with the rail service he was depending on to get around.“It baffled me, trains came at seemingly random intervals, there were only a few trains serving a big town like Yeovil, hours would pass without a train coming,” Lawrie says. “I couldn’t understand it, I was like, ‘There are the rails, they all link up, more or less, how hard can it be to get a better service?’”While most passengers would grumble and leave it at that, Lawrie took the matter into his own hands
UK steel industry calls for government to buy British in offshore wind push
The UK steel industry has called for the government to promise to buy British as it prepares for a major expansion of offshore wind generation.Wind generation has become a key part of the UK’s energy system, contributing 29% of generated electricity in 2023. However, despite the huge increase in the number of turbines, only 2% of the steel used in British offshore wind projects over the past five years was made in the UK, according to a study by the consultants Lumen Energy & Environment, commissioned by UK Steel, a lobby group.The British industry wants the government to aim to dramatically increase that proportion. The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, is preparing to publish a new steel strategy in the spring that will look at how to “increase steel capacity and capability in the UK” even as the industry struggles with the costs of decarbonising
Boxing Day footfall down on UK high streets despite discounts
Fewer consumers made the journey to high streets and shopping centres in search of Boxing Day discounts this year.Footfall across UK retailers was down 8.9% as of 3pm on Thursday, compared with Boxing Day in 2023, according to data from MRI Software.“The decline in Boxing Day activity may reflect a shift in consumer behaviour, influenced by the ongoing cost of living crisis,” said the retail tech experts’ marketing and insights director, Jenni Matthews.UK high streets suffered the biggest decline – about 10
The first quarter of 21st century wasn’t great for investors. The next needs an AI boost | Nils Pratley
The first quarter of the 21st century is almost up, assuming one regards 31 December 1999 to have been the last day of the last millennium (non-partying pedants insist the date actually fell on the final day of 2000). It is the cue for analysts at Deutsche Bank to remind investors how much can change in the course of 25 years, in this case from the days when Nokia phones and fax machines, rather than iPhones and Amazon, were everyday features of life.Here’s one jaw-dropper: back in sunny days of 1999, there was a live debate as to when the US would pay down its entire stock of government debt. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reckoned the glorious day would arrive sometime in 2013. In reality, borrowing headed in the other direction almost immediately – and the US debt-to-GDP ratio is now above 100%
‘It’s absolutely open to abuse’: web awash with weight-loss drug offers
After Andy King was told he was not eligible to receive weight-loss jabs on the NHS, he turned to the internet to order them privately. But before long, he was inundated with promotions.“Every other advert on my social media feed is an offer to have a Black Friday deal on the drugs,” he said.In a video call with the Guardian, King, a 59-year-old leisure management consultant and coach, demonstrated what happens when he looks for such medications.Opening a search engine, he typed three words: “Weight loss drugs
Bouncing back: UK soft play centres recover after Covid closures
“It will go all the way up there, with four floors, and a net maze,” says Jonathan Laznik, the owner of Gambado, pointing to the 10-metre-high ceiling in Forest Hill’s Capitol theatre, which is the venue for the company’s newest soft play venture.Built as a silent cinema in 1929, the Grade II-listed art deco building, which once sat 1,600 cinemagoers, has also served as a bingo hall and, until last year, a Wetherspoon’s pub.Novelty Guinness hats emblazoned with “Happy St Patrick’s Day!” still hang behind the bar, which Laznik says will be demolished to make way for children’s party rooms next year, if he secures planning permission.With three other sites in Brent Cross, Chelsea and Finchley, Laznik is one of a growing number of entrepreneurs who have entered the soft play market in recent years.After 10% of operators went out of business during the coronavirus pandemic, there are signs of recovery, with some providers including Laznik buying multiple sites
Looking back on landmarks of US Black history from an era of erasure – in pictures
Preston’s golden age: mysterious guerrilla art tackles everything from toilets to Shakespeare
And the 2024 Braddies go to … Peter Bradshaw’s film picks of the year
‘Still so relatable’: how teenage discovery of the Brontës fostered career in literature
‘All the kids were spewing innuendo’: actors and comedians remember their first nativity plays
Rob Brydon: ‘Ruth Jones is the closest thing I have to a sister’