Falling prices set to spark HUGE savings on Christmas shopping
Biggest ever Black Friday sale on November 27 will give way to bumper festive savings, experts are predicting
Shoppers are set for a bargain bonanza Christmas after a record run of falling prices.
Experts predict that lower costs and fierce competition will trigger discounts galore over the next eight weeks.
The biggest-ever Black Friday sale event later this month will give way to bumper festive savings, they believe.
The prediction came as figures revealed shop prices fell for the 30th month in a row, down 1.8% in October.
Food prices were 0.4% lower year on year but non-food prices tumbled 2.7%.
Some of the biggest savings were for clothes and footwear, which cost 6.2% less. Electrical items were down 4.3%.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of report author the British Retail Consortium, said: “Retailers will be planning diligently in the run-up to the busy Black Friday and Christmas shopping periods, with consumers likely to enjoy even greater bargains.”
Mike Watkins, retail analyst at intelligence group Nielsen, predicted stores would cut prices to boost customer numbers, with under-fire supermarkets desperate to grow sales.
“All round, it’s good news for shoppers,” he said.
This month’s Black Friday on November 27 is set to be bigger than ever, with £1.1billion predicted to be spent – a third more than last year and nearly three times the figure from 2013.
Amazon is planning to double the number of cut-price promotions in the event to more than 6,000, with third-party sellers joining in for the first time.
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The BRC also used the update to call on Chancellor George Osborne to cut business rates.
Dickinson said: “Implementing the national living wage, the apprenticeship levy and the increasing cost of business rates requires retailers to find over £14billion of efficiency improvements over the next five years.”
*NEARLY 280,000 small high street businesses in England face an eye-watering 20% jump in business rates next year.
Expert Paul Turner-Mitchell urged Chancellor George Osborne to extend rate relief for small firms, currently worth an estimated £417million.
Without it, the average pub, shop and cafe could see their rate bill increase to more than £9,100 a year, he said.