The post-Christmas sales scene has changed, but there are still bargains to be found out there

Many of the sales set pieces are gone however. The  Next chain of stores which traditionally led the St Stephen’s Day charge, triggering queues before dawn with 6am door openings, have pushed back their sale until tomorrow. It is yet another example of how the post Christmas sales scene has changed.

Savvy shoppers have been availing of sales discounts across multiple platforms throughout November, with a tsunami of offers wrapped around Black Friday/ Cyber Monday. There were ongoing category discounts in stores and specials discounts on the eve of Santa’s arrival.

Retailers have seen a very brisk week in trade.

The Dunnes Stores flagship store in Cornelscourt, Dublin, opened for 24 hours while the Marks & Spencer store in Dundrum Town Centre, Co Dublin, was open at 6am, catering for eager grocery shoppers.

The Louis Copeland stores in Dundrum Shopping Centre and in Dublin’s Wicklow Street both reported record sales days last week, their best in 10 years, with a particular uptake in luxury ‘smart casual’ buys according to group general manager David O’Connor.

Shelly Corkery, fashion buying director at Brown Thomas Arnotts (BTA), reports they had “a fantastic season, womenswear was phenomenal, menswear was very good and shoes had a wonderful season too”.

She points to “adaptability and functionality” as key going into 2023 and says “fashion has changed more than ever this season and if people are buying a coat, they want one that they can adapt within their wardrobe for use both day and night”.

If people were predicting the demise of bricks-and-mortar stores, then this Christmas has underlined just how much the ‘retail mooch’ is back.

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Duncan Graham, managing director of Retail Excellence, confirmed “the online trade has fallen back a bit this year, certainly through the Christmas period, and bricks- and-mortar shopping is back.

“People are spending more time browsing in the shops compared to the previous two years. In previous years, shoppers were in and out of stores very quickly but this time they’ve been spending time in towns. They are absorbing and enjoying the Christmas atmosphere, and there’s been a lot more time spent in store,” he said.

“We’ve not seen the increases in online spend that we’ve seen over the last two years. When you compare it to 2019 levels, it’s still way up.”

Mr Graham said that while footfall has been up compared with previous years, the spend is the same as previous years if not below and that’s a reflection of people being very conscious of energy costs and cost of living costs.

“People will have been careful how they spent – and will they have money left for the January sales remains to be seen,” he said.

“But certainly the product will be there and we will be shopping more freely like we did in previous years.”

While the recent cold snap and arrival of snow saw a rise in online sales, it also pushed people to ‘shop locally’ – something that has held strong since the pandemic. Neighbourhood shopping will take a significant slice of the retail cake as we reach the end of the year.

Trade during December will be in the region of €5.3bn to €5.4bn. Mr Graham forecasts “a reasonably good sale period for retail”.

Don Nugent, centre director of Dundrum Town Centre, said: “On footfall, we’ve been closing that gap against 2019 each week but what we did find in terms of patterns is that people were shopping earlier this year.

“Our research has indicated that 30pc of our shoppers started Christmas buying before mid-October compared to 18pc last year so that means they were planning differently.”

When it comes to the spend, one clue is always in gift cards. Mr Nugent confirmed “the average load value on our gift cards has increased by 15pc this year.

“People are spending but they have an eye on January and price is driving behaviour,” he said.

So what will shoppers find in stores in the sales?

There’s plenty of product around with few shortfalls, mostly in well-known electrical products, but supply chains being back to normal is a key issue.

Last year, some fashion shops were desperate to get rid of seasonal stock caught up in supply chain issues and the Suez Canal incident during the pandemic which badly affected deliveries.

This year, Spring-Summer 2023 stock has already been delivered into some stores so businesses will be eager to get the rails cleared and get winter out to make room for the new season.

This could well mean sharp discounts aimed at speed, which can only be good news for bargain-hunters looking for value and that all important word buzz word in retail: longevity.

‘Our sales will start today, but only online – we will wait until tomorrow to open the shop door’

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Jane and Ruth Flanagan who run Style Ignite. Photo: Frank McGrath

Sisters Jane and Ruth Flanagan are Generation Z fashion entrepreneurs who are doing the Christmas sales their way – opting to trade online today and then waiting until tomorrow to open their shop door.

The pair set up Style Ignite, their sustainable knitwear brand and website 18 months when they moved home to Tullyallen, Co Louth, during the pandemic.

Last Christmas the sisters were part of a pop-up in Dublin’s Exchequer Street. This year, the duo opened the Design Collective pop-up in the same unit, providing a festive showcase for their knitwear and 10 other brands.

The customer reaction to the homegrown Irish brands including women’s and children’s fashion, jewellery, candles, throws, sleepwear, cards, art prints and footwear has been “unbelievable,” Ruth says. The growth of the pop-up stores has been a retail trend in Ireland this year.

While the sisters have only five days of trading left in the pop-up, which opened on November 28 and will be shuttered on New Year’s Eve, they have opted to wait until tomorrow to reopen so they can spend time with family and friends at home for Christmas, which they believe some shoppers will also want to do.

“Footfall in the store has been unbelievable and we have definitely come across lots of customers who want quality and they only want to shop Irish and sustainable,” Ruth also said.