It’s December, so I suppose we can put it off no longer.
As the infuriating, jingly-jangly tunes in all the shops have been reminding us for weeks, Christmas is coming. And retailers, of course, are desperate for us to part with our cash.
That’s the case in the best of times. For many shopkeepers and however strong the economy, December’s annual spending jamboree remains crucial to trading success and survival.
But at a time when most are still fighting their way back from the ravages of recession, it’s much more important than ever.
Not only that, but there’s also more competition than ever competition with and between big chains and now, apparently, aggressive fisticuff-style competition between shoppers determined to pick up the best bargains.
Just how cash-strapped and keen-for-a-good-deal consumers have become was brought home by what was billed as the UK’s first day of “Black Friday” sales.
The US tradition of post-Thanksgiving price cuts seemingly brought out the worst in some, with reports of one woman requiring hospital treatment for a suspected broken wrist following a fracas at an Asda store in Belfast.
Then Cyber Monday saw sales skyrocket as post-payday online orders shot up. Amazon UK enjoyed its busiest day ever, with 4.1 million sales or around 47 per second marking a 15% increase on the same day last year.
However, that doesn’t mean high streets or smaller independents are missing out. In the quest for a good deal, or late divine inspiration, the savvy and clueless are still expected to hold off until Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 before hitting the shops.
I may be among them.
So bricks can still have their day in the ongoing battle against clicks if retailers set out their stalls right in the coming weeks.
l An incredible amount of money must have been spent on debit and credit cards on Monday making RBS’ latest IT failure all the more cringeworthy.
The collapse of the state-owned bank’s computer systems on what was probably the busiest internet shopping day ever is yet another PR disaster.
The fact taxpayers could not use their own cash after stumping up £45 billion to keep RBS afloat five years ago was no doubt particularly galling for frustrated customers, many of whom would have been afflicted by similar gremlins last year.
New boss Ross McEwan is right when he says it’s simply not good enough. However, there’s something about the publicly-owned bank which continues to attract the wrong kind of headlines.
Predecessor Stephen Hester left after a good deal of hard work mucking out the stables. The new man continues that effort and has already intimated he will be staging something of a relaunch, with a fresh plan of his own in the New Year.
However, since he took over, we’ve had the publication of a report highly critical of small business lending and a new investigation into claims the bank effectively killed off some smaller firms for profit.
The latest IT foul-up, which City analysts say could cost more than £1 billion to fix, heaps ever more pressure on Mr McEwan’s vision.