Boxing Day is Dead

[Nythril]

Boxing day deals have dropped to miniscule savings for the most part because of the success of the box stores the last decade. Gone are the smaller retail outlets - gone are the mom and pop electronic stores. Box stores fought the who can go lower fight and won - prices are now just above the break even point for the big box stores so there is little room for deep discounts to be offered on too many items. People have to remember what started the boxing day sales and it wasn't to reward shoppers - it was to get rid of overstock that didn't sell before Christmas and to undercut the other stores doing the same. Today with Just In Time delivery there is little overstock at the big box stores and the prices have shaved off as much as possible to ensure the death of small business.

So most boxing day deals have a couple door crashers to entice you and a whole bunch of sales that are maybe a few bucks cheaper then the rest of the year ... but a sale is a sale and money saved is ... well you know. So I view boxing day sales now as waiting to buy what I had planned to buy and save a few bucks and not - What item that I didn't plan on buying but will because the sale is so good.

[Fireflies]

Oh nice the annual boxing day is dead thread celebrating it's 10 year anniversary. I was wondering when this would show up, it's usually after 5 flyers are posted but for some reason this year it was more like 10 flyers. This thread organically grows in parallel with the negative comments in individual sales threads. (i.e. "wallet safe", "Not hot", etc...). Then come Dec 24th at 7pm you will see the birth of the annual "I hate Future Shop" thread when their servers inexplicably fail under the web traffic load created by....who knows right..not like there were any deals?! Everyone complained about the dealless deals so it's definitely not RFDers crashing the sites.

Wait, who is crashing these sites then? Riiiight it's the thousands of RFDers posting in these store sale threads they first bitched and moaned about, making them grow to thousands and thousands of posts such as:
"Item X has finally been restocked"
"I managed to pick up a X"
"Order Confirmed"
"How long did it take you to get the confirmation email?"
"I managed to pick up X, Y & Z"
"They were out of X so I guess I'm lining up at 5am on the 26th (insert sad face of choice)"
...
...
...

So there you have it folks...a summary of every boxing day for the last 10 years. Don't believe me? Head to the archives to read the long version for a great laugh.

From a retailer standpoint; if it ain't broken then don't try to fix it.

This guy is a f*cking legend.

[ngot74]

I agree with most of the comments about Boxing Day being dead.

Case in point: The Samsung Tab 2 7" is a doorcrasher for $199 at FS. Last week it was $149.

No need to line up in the cold folks.

[krnpker]

First World Problems.

[bendak]

First World Problems.

Deal quality being discussed on a site dedicated to deals... Who woulda thunk it?

[smartie]

In the past few years ive been noticing that retailers have really shifted there focus away from boxing day, regular sale prices are similar to boxing day prices. These past few years we complain, i feel like in 2012 we have come to a realization that boxing day is nothing to look forward to anymore. The tradtion still stays on retailers still bears the name of boxing day but in reality boxing day is dead and is not a day to look forward to as in the past.

That is because we didn't have black friday before.

[spuzzum]

Any kind of sale is designed to capture poor people who would not buy otherwise. everyone knows boxing day. only dumb rich folks shop on boxing day anymore. haha. look at canadian tire . what a joke. the deals seem designed to catch dumb poor people because rich dont buy that crap. the stuff is on sale every week at these prices.

[bembol]

As always I don't mind. I either spent so much over the year or I already bought it. My next purchase is the new 27" iMac which will have to wait until next year, it's not like Apple will drop the price anyway.

Like every year even if I having nothing to buy, I still go out with family/friends.

[Konowl]

In the past few years ive been noticing that retailers have really shifted there focus away from boxing day, regular sale prices are similar to boxing day prices. These past few years we complain, i feel like in 2012 we have come to a realization that boxing day is nothing to look forward to anymore. The tradtion still stays on retailers still bears the name of boxing day but in reality boxing day is dead and is not a day to look forward to as in the past.

I posted in another one of the whine-filled threads but had to respond here as well. I don't agree with what you are saying about boxing day being dead, it's very alive and real. Look at Tigerdirect for example - I swear I've gotten a black friday ad email, a post black friday email, a second post black friday email, and ANOTHER black friday email.

Black Friday is one day. Boxing day is one day. It's not boxing week. It's not pre-boxing week sale. It's not boxing month sale. Boxing day used to be about a couple of good door crashers here and there, and now it's basically a couple of weekly ads compressed into one with maybe one or two decent doorcrashers (that aren't that great to begin with).

I don't think retailers have shifted their focus away from boxing day at all. I think retailers realize they don't have to blow their brains out on margins, as the majority of shoppers are simply not intelligent shoppers. Watch people buy TV's and buy Monster HDMI cables with them if you need proof. Our community is a community of overtly price conscious shoppers (and whiners when the deals aren't good). We have high expectations. Obviously the rest of Canadians don't. The stores will be packed boxing day as they normally are.

The quality of the deals, however, are dead.

Retailers are much more sophisticated now than they ever have been, with computerized ordering and just in time deliveries. Generally there isn't a lot of inventory they NEED to blowout.

The main thing I get now is half priced chocolate and half price christmas chocolate and health and beauty sets - it's a great way to stock up on razors and cologne at a decent price.

[Konowl]

If you really need a tv, buy it on the online sale and pay the $50 shipping or less. That way you don't wait 12 hours in line. Time is money. And there hasn't been a sale worth any line up in the cold. Especially when you are not even guaranteed to buy it.

Honestly, who spends 12 hours lining up? I find that moronic. I could go flip burgers and make $120 in that amount of time. It would have to be one HELL of a good deal for me to line up that long. In the cold. On Christmas night.

[Konowl]

You have too much time on your hands

But he's bang on.

[oajlu]

Honestly, I perfer black friday over boxing day. American consumers get their toys before holiday and spend their time with family during xmas.
Canadian consumer gets their stuffs after holiday (online purchase) and spending time shopping during xmas....
IMO, Black friday timing is a lot more friendly to consumers than boxing day, beside a lot of ppl are out of country and they miss all these sales.

[Konowl]

Honestly, I perfer black friday over boxing day. American consumers get their toys before holiday and spend their time with family during xmas.
Canadian consumer gets their stuffs after holiday (online purchase) and spending time shopping during xmas....
IMO, Black friday timing is a lot more friendly to consumers than boxing day, beside a lot of ppl are out of country and they miss all these sales.

Hahahahahh so true! I get so annoyed when I see gifts I got people go on sale boxing day/week/month!

[Dover2000]

If not last year, it's taken a turn for the worst this year. Time to pull the plug and stop the suffering, it's dead........

[glacier76]

Honestly, I perfer black friday over boxing day. American consumers get their toys before holiday and spend their time with family during xmas.

Since Boxing Day takes place on, well, Boxing Day, can't people in Canada still spend time with their families on Xmas?

Unlike Black Friday in the US which takes place on Thanksgiving Day.