Sales….

I had a lovely family Christmas! Did you? I must say, I got Christmas presents which are useful and which I did appreciate… but my son, for example, simply wanted some money, in time to be off to the start of the sale in London with his mates first thing today….

In the U.K. at least it has become sort of a tradition that the online shops of the big retailers start their sale on Christmas Day (for some even already after the stores close on Christmas Eve), and with queues starting on Boxing Day from the early hours by aficionados hunting for the best bargains.

Now why anyone right in their mind needs to run off to the shops (not for groceries!) the day after having received plenty of Christmas presents is beyond me, Let alone after having spent already a small fortune in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday bonanzas…. no wonder unsecured household debts are at an all time high – and this not only in the U.K.!

So, according to Barclaycard, the outlook for the Boxing Day sales of 2019 is rather bleak, with only 4 of 10 adults expected to make the most of it and 7 of 10 shoppers professing to spend less on cheap clothes. The average shopper in Britain is expected to spend approximately £186 per person, Or in total some £200 million less than last year. Environmental considerations seem to be playing a major part in this, which can only be good news!