Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
JINGLE SELLS
Shoppers will spend £1.7bn in a last-minute sales spree
MILLIONS of Christmas shoppers will today go on a record-breaking £1.7billion spending spree in a lastminute splurge on Super Saturday.
Stores are slashing prices to woo shoppers who have been hanging on to their cash in the hope of better deals.
And those who held their nerve will be quids in this weekend as fashion items have been slashed by up to 70%.
Bargains include a Phase Eight Shaniya palm frock down from £110 to £33 and a floral print dress down from £99 to £29 at Debenhams.
The chain has knocked 20% off handbags with kids’, men’s and women’s wear down by 50%.
Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust is £10 instead of £20 and The Beast of Buckingham Palace by David Walliams is half price at £7.49 at WH Smith.
Beauty gift sets are half price at Boots while its three-for-two deals are also expected to drive sales. According to the Centre for Retail Research and Vouchercodes the £1.7billion blowout beats last year’s £1.63billion.
This is partly because of click and collect services and online retailers able to deliver up until Christmas
Eve. Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at accountants PWC, said: “We expect to see significantly higher promotional levels this weekend and a bumper Boxing Day sale for patient consumers.”
Around 11 million shoppers will be lured to the shops today. London’s West End is expected to rake in £136million as 1.7 million visitors descend, figures for
New West End Company reveal. Head of insights Artjom Hatsaturjants said: “With the general election complete, we anticipate sales to reach their peak.”
Two of the biggest shopping centres, Westfield in West London and Westfield Stratford City in East London, are expecting more than a million people.
Birmingham’s Bullring is expected to draw 200,000, with 160,000 at Manchester’s Trafford Centre,
at70% 100,000
Bluewater,
Kent, 90,000 at
Lakeside, Essex and 80,000 at Bristol’s
Cabot Circus.
Analysts at
Springboard predict footfall will peak at 3% above Saturday last year.
Insights director Diane Wehrle said: “Consumers took advantage of early discounts and are waiting for discounts to deepen once again as retailers do their best to shift unsold stock.”