Boxing Day shoppers up 8 percent as Britain begins annual bargain hunt

Britons were out in force for the Boxing Day sales with 8 percent more shoppers than last year, despite heavy rainfall that left parts of the country under water and without power, figures from retail data company Springboard showed on Thursday. Shopping centers saw a 22 percent rise in the number of bargain-hunters coming through their doors, while high street stores saw 3.4 percent more shoppers as of 10am, the data showed. Many shops started Britain's traditional "January sales" online on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day as British shoppers increasingly demand earlier and deeper discounting. Department store John Lewis (JLP.UL) reported record sales for the week before Christmas on Thursday and said that for the first time it expected the majority of British shoppers to use smartphones rather than desktop computers to make online purchases.

via Business News - Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/news/boxing-day-shoppers-8-percent-135733493.html