The rise in shopping online has made it common for consumers across the country to place orders while doing other things, up to and including celebrating Christmas. This year, analysts believe that Boxing Day generated at least £4 billion in retail sales, with e-commerce sites helping to make up for a dip in high street footfall.

The Guardian reports that Black Friday is partly to blame for the declining interest in the Boxing Day sales event, which was traditionally the time at which many shoppers sought to grab a bargain in bygone eras. Today, the disparity between the two in terms of raw visitor numbers is around 30 per cent, meaning that plenty of people had already satisfied their spending desire back in November and felt little need to hang on for December 26th.

The Centre for Retail Research found that bricks and mortar stores saw a 12 per cent fall in sales, although there are some areas in which spending remained solid, such as home furnishings. It all comes down to the way in which retailers in specific niches decide to schedule their deals throughout the year.

Heavy discounting and flash sales occurring regularly are also seen as being a major contributor to the complex picture of shopping over the Christmas period. While people can sit at home in their pyjamas and browse products to their heart’s content at this time, they may also find that the prices they encounter on traditional sales days, such as Boxing Day, are not all that much better than at any other time.

£4 billion being spent in 24 hours still sounds like a lot, but it is interesting to see the cautious responses by retail industry analysts to the state of play at the end of 2019.