Boxing Day sales won't be the solution to a weak season - report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 20, 2022

If retailers are hoping that the Boxing Day sales will help to rescue what has been a fairly sluggish festive shopping season so far, they could be disappointed. 

“Boxing Day is projected to be yet another traditional shopping peak where sales won’t reach last year’s levels,” according to insights from digital commerce protection provider, Signifyd.

Online at least, it believes Boxing Day sales will fall 3% below last year, in line with a 4% drop on Black Friday.

The prediction — and December’s performance so far — “mark a sombre turn for a shopping season that started out strong, but faded fast, as attractive discounts pulled consumers’ spending forward into November,” Signifyd added. 

“Overall online sales in November were up 6% in the UK,” said its Data Analyst Phelim Killough. “But December to date is down 5%, a fairly reliable sign that early demand in November has displaced some festive season spending in December.”  

If the prediction turns out to be correct and the lack of enthusiasm spills over to physical stores, it means the coming Boxing Day will follow a weak December 26 in physical shops last year. It was on a Sunday in 2021, which meant Sunday trading hours, while some chain stores remained closed to give workers an extra day off.

That could have pushed some consumers into deciding to not go out with data from Sensormatic Solutions showing shopper counts fell 61.2% against pre-pandemic levels on Boxing Day.