Shop till you drop?
The media were calling it the cheapest day on the high street.
There was 50% off at Woolworths,
M&S and Debenhams slashing prices by 30% and 20% off at a raft
of other famous high street names.
But is it enough?
I doubt it. The problem is that the deals just keep getting better.
Prices are fluctuating, and by large margins. If we use footfall
estimates as a guide, people are waiting to see what happens before
they put their hand in their pockets.
A while ago I bought a flash drive from an online retailer. Since
then, I've received regular email offers. Yesterday, it was a
£100 discount on a HD TV. My reaction? "It's not even
the January sales yet and they're knocking the price down
£100 - I wonder how much more the price is going to
fall."
Amongst this wild price slashing was the added 'bonus' of a
2.5% drop in VAT. Plenty of retailers put up signs on
1st December to proudly declare that their goods would
be discounted at the tills… for anyone who actually thinks
about what 2.5% actually means it is hardly the amazing stimulus
the government has painted it as.
The lack of price consistency and the ever changing sea of offers
seems to have sent shoppers to their
keyboards, using websites to browse the best offers in
real time. For many it's the simplest approach and reduces the
need for travelling up and down the high streets to see where the
best discounts are.
And amazingly, it seems that the busiest time for online shopping
will be after Christmas (one day in
fact if last year is anything to go by)
So, shop till you drop? Unlikely…
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