Europe

Europe

Britain in shopping rush on pre-Christmas discounting

17 December 2011 23:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. British shops are expected to see the traditional sales bloom with the approaching of Christmas festival, especially on the last weekend before the festive, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Christmas shoppers in Britain are estimated to spend around 1.5 million pounds (2.3 million U.S. dollars) a minute on Saturday on what is set to be one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Before Christmas, Britain’s shopping centers up and down the country are packed with people purchasing presents. People are taking advantage of huge discounting in the remaining week before Christmas.

Kelkoo, a leading shopping and price comparison service in Europe, said consumers will spend 128 pounds each on Christmas presents and other goods, taking the average family spending this festive season to almost 700 pounds.

Christmas sales make up around 18 percent of annual retail sales.

Those who cannot face the crowds on the high street will also be making orders on the internet to make sure their gifts arrive in time for the big day.

Online sales are expected to soar by over 16 percent to 13.4 billion pounds this Christmas compared with last year, and compared to a 2 percent fall on the high street, according to the Kelkoo report.

Books, DVDs and electrical items are likely to be among the items that shoppers are buying to give to their loved ones. Parents who have left their shopping to the last minute will be rushing to get the must-have children’s toys for their little ones.

Norman Black, head of marketing at Brent Cross Shopping Centre in north west London, told Sky News TV sales of jewelry and watches have risen by 20 percent in the run-up to Christmas.

He said: "Shoppers still want quality at Christmas, particularly with something as personal as jewelry. In fact, last week one of our jewellers sold the most expensive watch they had ever sold here, at a cool 80,000 pounds."

The busy day will provide a much-needed boost to traders who suffered poor sales in November.

Sales volumes fell 0.4 percent from the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with poor sales of computers, watches, jewelry and carpets.