Selfridges in line for record trading as bargain hunters head for the sales
BARGAIN hunters put the pre-Christmas shopping sprees in the shade when they descended on Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre to take advantage of the Boxing Day sales.
Tens of thousands of people flocked through the doors of the centre, many queuing from as early as 2am to take advantage of the offers. By the time stores opened at 8am around 2,000 people are thought to have been in the queues.
The scenes were filmed by the BBC News as part of its national coverage.
One of the main beneficiaries of the rush was centre anchor Selfridges which, following a strong pre-Christmas trading period, saw its most successful ever first hour of trading since the centre’s opening 11 years ago.
The department store, which underwent a £20m revamp during the autumn, took more than £2m between 9 and 10am. As such, the business was on course to break a new national record sales across its four stores and selfridges.com.
Accessories led the sales rush as the first three products sold in the Birmingham store were a Celine multicolour Edge handbag reduced from £1,650 to £825, a Givenchy Pandora box bag reduced from £1,205 to £602 and a Michael Kors tote bag discounted to £120 from £240.
Online, the company’s website saw more than 700,000 visitors on Christmas Day, an increase of 40% on 2013. Over 70% of visits were made via mobile or tablet. Online purchases made between midnight and 8am on Boxing Day were more than double the same period in 2013.
Top online purchases included: high definition televisions, designer dresses and accessories, Beats by Dre headphones and KitchenAid Artisan Mixers.
Ruth Harrison, general manager at Selfridges Birmingham, said: “Our Boxing Day sale is without a doubt the most hotly anticipated date in the shopping calendar as thousands flock to get their hands on our discounted designer labels. We are proud to see happy customers from all over the world enjoying the very best sale buys across every category. We are incredibly pleased with the customer response to our sale, and we are on course for another record breaking Boxing Day opening.”
