Where will the best bargains be found this January. Britain’s traditional January Sales appear to be under threat, as shoppers increasingly move online to buy whatever they need.
A few years ago it was common for us British shoppers to snap out of our post-turkey slumber and head to the high street or out-of-town retail parks for the most popular British pastime – shopping.
Many years ago I worked in retail for a large and well known electronics retailer. I hated having to move to work on Boxing Day to start the January sale a few days early. These days though, the shopping frenzy seems to have died down and both the retail parks and high streets are taking a beating from upstart online retailers and of course high street retail names have moved in line with a vengeance, eager to maintain revenue and turn a profit against the likes of Amazon, eBay and, most recently, China’s Alibaba.
Is high street shopping dying?
The trend for shoppers to shop online seems to have reached a state of inevitability and we have all seen the gaps in the high streets where once BHS, Austin Reed, Netto and others were packed with shoppers. Suburban centers have seen Comet, Dixons, B&Q and others disappear. At the same time, retail experts say that despite all the bad news, retail parks are actually seeing as many busy stores as in years past.
B&Q, Curries and Homebase remain the biggest names in the business and retailers tell us they are seeing a growing number of shoppers at sale times.
Perhaps the death of retail is not as inevitable as we may have been thinking?
But what about the best prices?
All these changes in retail raise questions in my mind. For example, I always knew that many retailers would buy off-stock specifically to sell at seemingly low prices in the January sales, but there were laws about pricing and how discounts had to be displayed that protected shoppers.
Online shopping is different, but it shouldn’t be!
For example, online retailers have their own tricks to play on unsuspecting shoppers. Did you know that online stores can show different prices to different customers for the same product based on their previous purchase history? I don’t know about you, but the idea that I might pay less for a TV than you because, in the past, you’ve been willing to spend more money than I do, or because you live in a wealthier area than I do is unsettling. At least when I walk through the door of my local PC World, we all see the same prices on the shelves and can make our own decisions!
How genuine is a sale when prices are being rigged on a customer-by-customer basis and when I can pay more than you because my purchase history shows me I’m a soft touch?
I think in general I prefer to walk into a store, even if it’s crowded, see what’s on offer, and make my own decision as to value.
But the flip side of the coin is that online retailers can often offer prices that no brick-and-mortar retailer can simply because their costs are lower. There are no fancy displays to build and maintain, and buyers even pay shipping fees on top of normal prices. When was the last time you received a WH Smith book? Every shipping charge you pay to an online retailer is a hidden subsidy to the retailer’s profits!
What if I change my mind?
Some people worry about what to do if they want to return products because they don’t like them or if they are defective. That’s understandable with online shopping since with an online purchase it can be hard to see the actual quality of an item, to understand how it feels in the hand, how it will fit into a room. In a high street store, we can see all these things for ourselves, first hand. Good online retailers have easy systems to allow returns of purchases and in the UK we have legislation that makes it a legal requirement that products can be returned to online retailers. Of course, in many cases, if goods are returned, the cost of delivery/postage is borne by the customer; an extra, hidden cost of shopping online. However, with normal retail purchases, there is no right of return unless the products are faulty in some way.
What way to buy is better?
There are costs and benefits to each type of purchase. If you buy products regularly and later regret doing so, then going online is probably a good option. If you want to be able to check the quality of a purchase before you buy, then going to a retail store is probably the way to go.
One way of shopping that is becoming popular is for retailers to integrate their online and ‘real world’ stores so that a customer can view something online and order it for pickup at their local retail branch. Also, people can now visit the store to see the offers and then complete the purchase online. This can give the best of both worlds and is what I will often do. The downside, however, is that such integration is difficult for small businesses to achieve, giving the large retail chains the advantage, which has its own set of downsides for those who like to shop on the high street.
The January sales keep coming!
For years to come, there’s one thing we can be confident of: there will still be January sales, even if they actually start right after Christmas. There will be deals galore in both online and physical stores. I know after Christmas this year I’ll be hitting my local stores for bargains of all kinds, and so will you! We will also be looking online for what Amazon and the other big box retailers offer and therefore we can count ourselves lucky to have such a wide variety of products from all over the world yet so close to our front door.
For shoppers these days, things have probably never been so good. We have a huge variety of products, the competition is driving prices down on many items, we still have stores to go to and look around to see the range and check the quality – we have the best of both worlds.
My hope is that high street retailers find ways to survive and thrive in the face of online competition because we really need both types of shopping. stroll through B&Q, PC World and Boundary Mill?
