Boxing Day sales 2021 and January sales: what to expect
This year’s much-anticipated Boxing Day sales and January sales are less than a week away now and we’re already starting to see promising early signs from a host of retailers. Toys, furniture, fashion, tech, and well – just about everything you can think of will be on sale in the time-honoured retail event in the UK, so it’s well worth getting prepped ahead of time.
The annual Boxing Day sales represent a sort of ‘last hurrah’ in the busy late-year retail calendar – a natural bookend to the sales that tend to begin around Black Friday in late November. Some consider Boxing Day to be the original Black Friday, especially in the UK, where it’s evoked similar imagery of people queuing up outside department stores waiting to grab a bargain. As you’d imagine, last year’s lockdown really put a damper on high-street sales nationwide (footfall has been declining for a few years now) but the online sales are still very much going strong.
We’ll be rounding up all the best Boxing Day and January sales here as soon as they start cropping up – which is from now onwards. In fact, we’re already starting to see the first few retailers to ‘officially’ launch their Boxing Day event, which you can check out below in our A-Z index of retailers. While it’s still early days, you’ll also find a ton of online stores offering extended ‘Holiday sales’ or ‘December deals’ – most of which will offer comparative savings to the big day itself. Regardless of whether you’re looking to shop now or wait it out, don’t forget to bookmark this page and check in regularly as we’ll be updating it with more sales as we spot them.
Boxing Day 2021 and January sales: when will they start?
The Boxing Day sales traditionally start on the morning of December 26th, although it’s not unknown for retailers to launch their deals a full week before that date and then carry them through to the end of the year.
While it depends from retailer to retailer – a lot of shops are offering up extended ‘December’ or ‘Winter’ sales this year that are highly likely to be carried through to Boxing Day and maybe even January. That said, there are definitely a few retailers still keeping their powder dry until the big day itself this week.
Either way, it’s prudent to check in early if you’re looking for a bargain in this year’s Boxing Day sales. Officially, most online Boxing Day sales will be starting at midnight, 26 December, but expect to see plenty of early Boxing Day deals dropping in the days before. As soon as they start, you’ll be able to find the best ones here on this page.
Great pre-Boxing Day sales to check out
As of writing, there are only a few retailers right now who have ‘officially’ launched their Boxing Day sales early. What a lot of retailers are offering right now, however, are last-minute Christmas deals or more generically titled ‘December sales’ events. If you’re looking to shop, definitely don’t hesitate to dive in and check them out – most of the big names have some sort of holiday-themed sale right now that are offering great discounts. Here’s just a quick selection of our highlights today.
- Amazon: last-minute Christmas deals on devices, gift sets, beauty, stocking fillers
- Ao.com: December clearance deals on cheap refrigerators, ovens, and appliances
- Argos: same-day delivery on toys, Christmas jumpers, jewelry, and other gifts
- Asos: 75% off outlet sale on Moschino, French Connection, and other brands
- Boohoo: huge 80% off December clearance sale on jumpers, dresses, coats
- Box: super-cheap 4K TVs, gaming laptops, monitors, and accessories
- Currys: December deals on coffee machines, TVs, smart home, and more
- Dell: cheap laptop deals now live, gaming laptops, and high-end Alienware machines
- EE: Christmas sale now available on contracts and SIM-only, plus free gifts
- Eve sleep: up to 35% off premium mattresses, pillows, and toppers
- Furniture Village: 20% off beds with code BEDEVENT
- GAME: 50% off Christmas sale on Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PS5 games and accessories
- Harrods: Boxing Day sale now live – up to 50% off fashion, clothes, and beauty
- John Lewis: up to 50% off lighting and furniture with late December sale
- LEGO: e-gift cards available for last-minute Christmas shopping
- Majestic: huge December wine sale now available with up to 50% off
- New Look: up to 60% off men’s, boy’s, girl’s, and women’s clothing
- Nike: huge December clearance sale on hoodies, shoes, t-shirts, tops, and more
- Shark: up to £200 off anti-hair vacuums, hair dryers, and air purifiers
- Three: 6-month half-price Christmas sale now available on iPhone and SIM-only
- Tempur: free pillows, protectors, and up to £500 off in this week’s Winter sale
- Very: the Very big sale now available on fashion, TVs, laptops, and beauty
- Waterstones: savings on celebrity autobiographies, cooking, fiction, and non-fiction
It’s worth reiterating that most of the above are not ‘official’ Boxing Day sales – just the pre-Christmas sales that a lot of retailers are featuring on their sites right now. There are a ton of great deals to be had currently but we wouldn’t rule out any further price drops on the 26th of December or even before.
Boxing Day sales: A-Z of retailers
Just below we have a really (and we mean really) exhaustive list of the best retailer’s to check out over the upcoming Boxing Day sales. We’ve included a mini-review on each one to let you know what to expect, plus when we expect the retailer to actually launch its sale.
A
B
C
D-F
E
F
G
H
I
J-L
K
L
M-O
N
O
P-R
R
S-U
T
U
V-Z
W
X
Y
Z
Boxing Day and January sales: Frequently asked questions
When will the Boxing Day sales end – and the January sales begin?
This will vary from retailer to retailer. While some switch their Boxing Day sales into early January sales from the 27 December, others extend their Boxing Day deals right to the end of the month. Largely, though, you’ll find it’s the same offers, just packaged under a different name.
What to expect in the Boxing Day and January sales
TV deals
Boxing Day and the January sales have always been a great time to pick up a discount on a TV and we’re expecting this year’s events to be no exception to that. Currys, Amazon, and John Lewis in particular will be the retailers to beat, although AO.com, Very, and Box should also offer great deals in their own right too.
While it’s still early days, the Boxing Day sales have traditionally been a good time to pick up the latest releases from the prior year – think fancy new OLEDs or QLED displays. The newest features tend to trickle down to the cheaper models too, so if you’re looking for something a bit more affordable, then you should be well catered for too.
In particular, this year’s TVs have really focused on support for the next-gen gaming consoles – the PS5 and Xbox Series X – so if you’re one of the lucky few to have a console, then you should be able to find a deal on a capable TV too.
Computing and laptop deals
While Black Friday and Cyber Monday are traditionally heralded as the best times of the year to pick up laptop deals, we definitely wouldn’t rule out the Boxing Day sales and January sales as a close second.
Leading retailers will absolutely be looking to compete with excellent options on everything from basic Chromebooks to lavish gaming laptops – and not just to shift old stock either.
Even better still, large-scale global chip shortages haven’t really affected the laptops market too much in the UK, which means retailer shelves should be relatively well-stocked by the time Boxing Day rolls around. We’d expect manufacturers like Dell and HP to offer excellent options directly via their sites, and Amazon, Currys, Box, Laptops Direct, and Very make up the bulk of top retailer options.
Headphones, tablets, and smartwatches
Headphone crowd favorites like the Jabra Elite Active 75T and Sony WH-1000XM4 were fixtures in last year’s Boxing Day sales and there’s likely to be similar options this year. Also, we wouldn’t rule out deals on the Apple AirPods, which are always a favorite at any sales event and always tend to be on sale at Amazon these days.
Pairing up nicely with headphones will also be sales on smartwatches – namely Apple Watches and Fitbits. These exact brands were on sale over last year’s events and you’ll definitely see retailers looking to cash in on those new year’s fitness resolutions with some relevant tech.
Finally, this year’s events should also include plenty of sales on the latest tablets. On the cheaper end of things, we’ll likely see moderate price cuts on Amazon’s Fire HD tablets – a good option for the basics or kids’ devices. For those looking to spend more, this year’s iPads will most likely be the most popular choices – and the ones we recommend. Sales on the newest 10.2 and Mini models aren’t likely to be anything too crazy, but we should see healthy discounts on the slightly older Air and Pro models.
Fitness
The Boxing Day and January sales are prime time for retailers looking to cash in on those popular fitness-focused new year’s resolutions. If you think you’ll be one of many to brave the January weather for your daily jog or commute down to the local gym, then it’s likely you’ll find excellent options for fitness gadgets.
Last year’s sales included very competitive prices on the FitBit Inspire 2 and the new (at the time) FitBit Versa 3. Amazon also had a great £36 price on the Eufy Smart Scale, a discount that’s subsequently been exceeded multiple times in 2021.
Alongside tech gadgets, we also saw leading sports clothing retailers like Nike and Addidas offer excellent clearance sales over January. If you’re not a fan of that January weather (believe us, neither are we), then you’ll definitely be able to save on some new threads. If hiking is more your thing, then GoOutDoors also offered a clearance sale – very handy for boots, heavy winter coats, and hats too.
