Shops eye £3.6bn Boxing Day bounce as 13million people are predicted to hit the streets in yearly bargain hunt

• Spending across bricks-and-mortar stores and online is predicted to hit £3.6bn
• Retailers desperate to shift stock resulting in mark-downs of up to 70 per cent
• Biggest reductions are expected in clothing, furniture and household appliances

Stores will be hoping for a Boxing Day bounce today as 13 million shoppers hit the streets in the annual bargain hunt.

Retailers are desperate to shift mountains of stock that didn’t sell in the run-up to Christmas, resulting in mark-downs of up to 70 per cent.

Total spending across bricks-and-mortar stores and online is predicted to hit £3.6 billion.

The biggest reductions are expected in clothing, furniture and household appliances as retailers try to tempt shoppers in the grip of a cost of living crisis.

Retailers are desperate to shift mountains of stock that didn’t sell in the run-up to Christmas, resulting in mark-downs of up to 70 per cent

Total spending across bricks-and-mortar stores and online is predicted to hit £3.6 billion

Retail experts say the nature of Boxing Day is changing, with the public getting out to socialise, eat and relax, rather than simply queue for bargains.

Shopping centres such as Bluewater, the Trafford Centre and Westfield will be welcoming people from around 7am, but several retailers, including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Next, will be closed until tomorrow to give their staff a decent break. Retail analyst Springboard predicts an increase in shopper numbers of 15 per cent on 2021, when Covid was still casting a cloud over the high street.

Spokesman Diane Wehrle said: ‘Over the past decade, footfall in UK retail destinations on Boxing Day has been lower than on the previous year in all but two years – 2013 and 2015.

‘A key driver of this is the steady migration of spend online which means shoppers are able to participate in Boxing Day sales without the need to make trips to stores.

‘So rather than purely for shopping, trips to destinations on Boxing Day are becoming more leisure oriented, with consumers using the day as an opportunity to eat out and socialise.’

She added: ‘Today will the first year in the past three years when normal shopping activity has resumed. This factor, together with the fact that many retail and hospitality trips prior to Christmas will have been cancelled due to the rail strikes, will encourage consumers to make trips out.’

According to YouGov research for PriceRunner UK, around one in four people will be shopping today. The price comparison service warned shoppers to beware of fake discounts, where prices were increased for a short period to make reductions look larger.

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