It’s started but not as we know it.
Boxing Day. England.
The day after Christmas is generally know as Boxing Day in the UK and the Commonwealth. It’s been a public holiday in the UK since 1871.
The origins of Boxing Day are not clear.
It could have been as a day after Christmas when the landed gentry and aristocracy distributed gifts to their servants – in boxes. Or it could have come from Anglican parishes whose faithful put money into boxes during the year and on the day after Christmas the contents were emptied and given to the poor.
Whatever its origins, it has developed a lot since then. Today it’s a massive sports day (all premier league football clubs are in action). And…the kick off to the sales. Where a newer tradition of queuing outside the store all night in order to make certain of snagging that must have and long saved up for bargain.
Mind you, it has been a good few years since Boxing Day was the real start of the sales. Increasingly as trading and retail conditions become tougher, more and more retailers have started their sales earlier even before Christmas something that was once a retail taboo.
This year has seen another development of the Boxing Day activity. Not an evolution of box giving and not on Boxing Day either… Christmas afternoon is turning into ClickBoxMas. Where bargain savvy consumers (and who isn’t these days) visit the stores sales web sites whose Boxing Day sales pre launch for click and reserve.
Just one additional impact digital retail is having.
Nothing is sacred.
