UK Special - Boxing Day Sale!

Festivals are a time to open up your purses and splurge on food, clothes or other accessories.  Irrespective of the economic cycle a nation or the world is in, this is a time when you as a spender will not mind spending your hard earned money. During these times of festivals, especially the brands whose products you buy cannot choose to ignore you. 

These brands and the larger organisations behind them try to make the most of this sentiment to “spend money“ by offering huge discounts and door buster “hard-to-ignore” deals. It is a time for them to improve their top line (revenue) and take a marginal hit on their bottom line (profits) – as the discounts drive down the profit margins; however it is still impressive for them to repeat this practise of giving discounts many times a year. For you as a buyer, it is – a hit on your savings (equivalent to profit margins), depletion of top line (income/savings) but a huge satisfaction of our consumerism and the feeling of “getting a good deal”.

In the UK, one of the best times to get a discount is during the Boxing Day sale. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas. Traditionally from the olden ages, it was a day when the rich & luxurious used to give presents to their servants, workers or close ones and give them a day off. Maybe this symbolizes the efforts put in by the people throughout the year and an act of Thanksgiving. Boxing day is also a public holiday in the UK.  Today, Boxing Day is the day when the English loosen their purse strings and the High Street Retailers and all organisations across Clothes, Fashion and Electronic Goods give their best bargains to increase their wallets of the shoppers in England. 

A Boxing Day sale is exactly similar to the sales which go on in the US – a day after Thanksgiving (which typically comes in November). Shops are open from early in the morning till late in the evening with their cash registers clocking sales by the minute and their websites loaded with internet users buying items virtually. The early morning door buster sales are for the determined shopper, who can wake up early in the morning, brave the cold and stand in line before the store opens for the day, ready to get best of the deals. However even if you miss door buster, there is still enough meat during the entire day, for you to splurge your money on!

Debenhams, Harrow Mall, London, UK - 2010

A visit to the shops later in the evening, just before they close for the day gives you a sneak peak of the highlights of the day. One of such pictures was captured by me during the Boxing Day sale of 2010, when i was in London – visiting a Debenhams outlet in Harrow. I am sure there would have been a few “cat fights” between ladies – trying to snatch the first best outfit that hits the eye!

This Boxing Day of 2012 , Meenakshi & I had been to a factory outlet – Junction 32, which is about 20 minutes from our place. A very nice mall – horizontally spread – just like the huge malls in Connecticut, US that i used to frequent with my friends. Over 90 multi brand outlets don Junction 32  and keeps one busy with the discounts and offers all over the year. In a span of 5-6 hours that we spent at Junction 32, we gave footfalls to Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Collectibles, Marks & Spencer, Gap and allowed Nike, Next and Gap to have a share of our wallet!  Next is typically known for better quality and styled clothes than Primark, Marks & Spencer and is a suggested “must visit” during Boxing Day sales in UK.

Junction 32 Mall, Castleford, UK - 2012

Thanks to Subway for ensuring we were able to relax and recharge our batteries before finishing off abusing our credit cards this Boxing Day Sale! Hope we stay off this temptation for sometime now and avoid buying this we did not plan to buy in the first instance! 

On a lighter note - let me assure that if you miss shopping this day when in England, with the lady in your house - be prepared to get "boxed" on your jaws or tummy for sure! No wonder -someone named it right as - "Boxing Day" when men ought to loose the match!

Happy Boxing Day folks!