Debenhams, M&S, and John Lewis join Next and New Look to slash prices by up to 70% to shift £15bn leftover stock
HIGH street shops are slashing prices to rock bottom in an attempt to shift stock not sold due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Online sales have already started at John Lewis, Debenhams, New Look, H&M, M&S, and Next and when they reopen, these sales are expected to continue in stores.
Most high street shops were forced to close their doors on March 23 when the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said non-essential businesses should close as part of the lockdown.
While some continued to sell online, others stopped sales temporarily including Next, which stopped all sales on March 26 over safety fears in its warehouses.
These shops are now preparing to reopen, following the Prime Minister’s announcement that all non-essential shops would open on June 15.
John Lewis has already confirmed the first 13 shops to reopen in June.
But because these shops were shut for so long, there is now around £15bn of spring and summer stock to clear.
Retail analysts have predicted discounts of up to 70 per cent off throughout July, August and September.
We list all the current online sales in the box below.
Debenhams, for example, has a huge-range of stock for up to 50 per cent off including mends, womens and kidswear and some sections, including men’s jackets, have up to 70 per cent knocked off.
While Next’s sale section boasts up to 50 per cent off, with a few items discounted beyond this.
The shops with online sales already live
These sales are all available right now
- : There is a big range on sale for up to 50 per cent off including mens, womens and childrenswear. Some sections have bigger discounts including men's jackets, which are up to 70 per cent off. There's up to 20 per cent off beauty and fragrance products and 30 per cent off homeware.
- : Up to 70 per cent discounts are available on more than 700 sale items at H&M across all of its clothes sections.
- : There's up to 30 per cent off clothes in the House of Fraser sale. This includes mens, womens, and kids as well as home, beauty and fitness items.
- : You can get 50 per cent off a selection of clothes in the mens and womens sections, as well as other offers including 20 per cent off the home and lighting sections.
- : High street staple M&S has launched a 50 per cent off "Rainbow Sale" which includes selected items. There's also lots of other discounts including 30 per cent off furniture and women's skirts, 20 per cent off shoes, and four items for the price of three on all menswear.
- : Womens, mens, childrens and homeware all are included in Matalan's current sale.
- : At Monsoon there's 50 per cent off all stock included in its mid-season sale on women's clothes and accessories.
- : There is an up to 60 per cent off sale at New Look, which includes mens, womens, and the 915 girls section. It also has a 50 per cent sale on some specific summer items.
- : The Next sale says its items are up to 50 per cent off or more but if you search within the sale items there are bigger discounts on a few items.
- : Up to 30 per cent has been knocked off a wide-range of summer clothes at Topshop. It also has special summer prices on certain items, grouped into under £10, under £20, and under £30 categories on the website.
- : There's up to 75 per cent off clothes at Tu including mens, womens, and childrenswear. This follows on a 25 per cent discount on all items which was launched earlier this month.
We spotted some women’s navy collettes priced at £3, originally on sale for £22, an 86 per cent discount and capri trousers for £3, originally £28, 89 per cent off.
While many of the sales are advertised as up to 50 per cent off, if you look carefully you can often find discounts of over 70 per cent.
Spring mid-season sales are nothing new, but this year because shops have been shut since March 23, they now have a huge amount of excess stock to shift.
This means the sales are for longer and retailers are offering bigger discounts than ever before.
When shops do reopen they are expected to look very different with customers expected to use hand sanitiser before touching items, restrictions on the number of people in shops, and no changing rooms available.
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