Deep discounting marks start of sales
Retailers looking for spending surge
December 27 2002
The first full day of the post-Christmas sales got off to a reportedly brisk start.
With consumers said to be out in force in major high streets and shopping centre, the question for retailers looking to sell Christmas overstocks was whether there were enough buyers to match the large amount of discounted product available this year.
The two days before Christmas saw a relatively strong last-minute shopping rush, but preliminary traffic counts suggested it was not as high as many retailers hoped for.
There were plenty of discounted Christmas gift lines in evidence at retailers such as Woolworths and WHSmith which opened selected branches on Boxing Day. DVDs, CDs and books are also being cleared, with HMV, Virgin, Borders and online retailer Amazon all advertising sale lines. PC retailers including Computer World, and PC World are also offering substantial discounts on selected lines, as are general electricals retailers such as Currys.
Much of the attention will be on the clothing market where Mark & Spencer and Next are competing with department store groups including Debenhams, House of Fraser and Allders to sell strongly discounted menswear and womenswear. Unseasonably warm and wet weather has left many clothing retailers with surplus winter lines.