Boxing Day Sales: How Small Shops Should Plan Stock

Boxing Day is a bit of a funny one. Christmas is over and done with, but the holidays aren’t quite finished. Lots of people are still off work and looking for something to do, and for plenty of them, that means a trip to the shops.

And it’s still a massive day for Aussie retail. Australians were forecast to spend around $1.6 billion on Boxing Day 2025, up 4.3% on the year before, according to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan. And it doesn’t stop there, with spending across the week after Christmas forecast to hit $3.8 billion.

But let’s be honest, Boxing Day can be tricky. You’re selling, swapping and clearing stock all at once. Some customers are after a bargain, some are already returning presents that didn’t quite hit the mark, and others have gift cards to spend.

Then there’s the question of what to do with all your Christmas stock. The day after Christmas, festive gifts and decorations feel a bit out of date, but they’re still just about relevant. By January, though, hardly anyone’s looking for tinsel or advent calendars, so whatever’s left either needs a bigger discount or goes in a box until next year. At the same time, you don’t want to knock money off things people would happily pay full price for, so it’s a bit of a balancing act, to say the least!

So, as a small shop, how do you juggle all of the above and make the day worth your time? Spoiler: it starts well before anyone’s finished their Christmas lunch.

Why Boxing Day needs its own plan

Boxing Day can be easily forgotten. After all the excitement of Christmas, plenty of people are pretty done by the time 26 December rolls around, and the day tends to just happen, usually involving the beach, the Boxing Day Test on in the background and a sizeable plate of leftovers. But give people a free day and a bit of Christmas money, and plenty of them will end up at the shops. And because it’s so unplanned, the customers who come through your door tend to fall into a few very different camps:

• Bargain hunters, who’ve come specifically for the sale
• Returners, who want to swap or refund gifts they didn’t want
• Gift card shoppers, who’ve just been given money to spend in your shop

That’s why it’s worth having a Boxing Day game plan, because the day after Christmas is a completely different ball game.

1. Look at what sold over Christmas

Before you decide anything, have a look at your sales from Black Friday through to Christmas Eve. What sold well? What didn’t? And what are you likely to have left once Christmas is over?

If you’ve got last year’s figures, check what sold on Boxing Day and the week after, too. You might find people mostly went for discounted Christmas bits, or that they used the sales to stock up on everyday things. Either way, it tells you what your customers actually come in for. If you’re not sure where to start, our guide to the 8 most useful reports you can run in Epos Now walks you through the main ones.

2. Decide what goes on sale

It’s easy to assume Boxing Day means putting everything on sale, but is that really the best move? The problem with this approach is that it can cost you a lot of margin without bringing in many more customers. Instead, it’s usually better to sort your stock into a few groups and treat each one differently:

• Christmas stock: decorations, festive gift sets, advent calendars and anything else that won’t sell at full price after the 25th. These are the ones to discount most.
• Slow sellers: anything that’s been sitting around for a while. The sales are a good excuse to finally clear it and free up space and cash.
• Summer stock: swimmers, boardies, sunnies and the like still have months of summer left in them, so a smaller discount (or none at all) often makes more sense.
• Bestsellers and everyday lines: these tend to sell anyway, so there’s rarely a need to cut their price much.

So, rather than just discounting everything willy-nilly, knock money off only where it’ll really make a difference.

3. Think twice before ordering extra

About to hit buy on that order? Hold your horses! It’s easy to get carried away and order a load of extra stock for the sales, but it’s worth doing a quick sum first. Say you buy something in for $10 and normally sell it for $20. Knock 30% off for the sales, and you’re selling it for $14, so you’re only making $4 instead of $10. That can still be worth it if it sells in big numbers, but not if half of it ends up sitting on your shelves through January, when plenty of your customers are off on holiday.

If you do decide to order more, stick to the things you know always do well in the sales, and try to order a little less than you think you’ll need. Selling out of something on Boxing Day isn’t the end of the world, but being stuck with a pile of it in January is a lot more of a headache. It’s also worth checking when your suppliers close for Christmas, as plenty of businesses shut down for a few weeks over summer, so your sale stock actually arrives in time. And if you’re planning for Black Friday too, take a look at our guide to forecasting stock for Black Friday without overordering.

4. Remember it’s not just one day

When we talk about Boxing Day, we’re really talking about more than just one day. That strange week between Christmas and New Year is prime shopping time, too, with plenty of people on holiday and browsing the shops between trips to the beach. And for most shops, the sales carry on well into January.

So, what does this mean for you? It’s a pretty unique shopping week, so rather than putting everything out on the 26th, it’s worth holding a bit of stock back. Topping up your sale racks and displays over the following days gives people a reason to pop back in, and it means your shop still looks full and inviting on the 28th, rather than like the last slice of pav at the end of Christmas lunch.

5. Count your stock before Christmas

This is not the time to get sloppy! Picture it: it’s Boxing Day morning, and a customer asks for the half-price sunnies your system says you’ve got, only for you to find they sold weeks ago. Fortunately, all it takes is a quick count in the week before Christmas to save you from that. You don’t need a full stocktake either; just check the products going into the sale and your bestsellers. Our guide to retail inventory management has more tips on keeping your counts accurate.

If you sell online too, this matters even more, as plenty of people start browsing the sales from the couch on Christmas evening. But we’ve got just the answer! With Epos Now, an automated inventory system updates your stock every time you make a sale, so you won’t end up selling the same pair of boardies twice.

6. Plan for returns, exchanges and gift cards

Our best advice is to brace yourself for returns, because not every present is going to be a hit. Make sure your returns policy is clear, and that your staff feel comfortable and confident handling a return. Just don’t forget to check returned items over quickly, as anything in good condition can usually go straight back on the shelves (and maybe even into the sale). Our guide to managing gift returns has more tips on setting a returns policy that works for you and your customers.

Then there are the gift card shoppers, who are often the most relaxed customers you’ll see all week. They’re not too fussed about bargains; they just want something they’ll love, and they’ll often happily spend over the card’s value to get it. So, to prepare for these shoppers, make sure you’ve got plenty of your popular full-price lines in stock, so that no matter the shopper, you’ve got options.

7. Get your team on the same page

This is a day you’re going to want your staff to know what’s what. Have a look at last year’s sales to see when your busiest hours were, and plan your roster around them, so you’re not left with one person on the till while a queue forms.

Before the doors open, run through which products are in the sale, how much they’re reduced by and how returns and exchanges work. A ten-minute briefing will save a lot of confusion later on.

Oh, and before we forget: it’s also worth making sure your tills and EFTPOS terminals are ready for the rush, as a long queue at the counter is one of the quickest ways to lose a sale.

After the sales: look back before you move on

And while you’ve been working hard, so has your POS. It’s been chugging along quietly in the background, keeping track of every sale over Boxing Day and the days after. But those numbers won’t do much sitting in a report you never open, and with the January sales right around the corner, now’s the moment to actually use them. A few things worth sorting while it’s all still fresh:

• What to do with the leftovers: Is that Christmas stock going back in a box for next year, or is it worth knocking a bit more off in January? And could a couple of slow sellers be bundled together to get them moving?
• Which discounts to repeat: If something sold just as well at 20% off as it did at 40% off, that’s really handy to know for next year.
• What to reorder: Anything that sold out quickly is a good sign it’ll do well again, so it’s worth getting it back in sooner rather than later.

Don’t forget to check in with your team, too. They were on the shop floor all day, so they’ll have noticed things the numbers won’t show, like which displays people kept stopping at, or what customers asked for that you didn’t have. Then, once the dust has settled, run your end-of-year reports to see how the whole festive season went.

Wrapping up your Boxing Day plan

Boxing Day doesn’t have to be a bit of a dud. With a little planning and the right information to hand, it can be a really good day for your shop. If you know what sold over Christmas, decide what’s going in the sale (and what isn’t), keep a bit of stock back for the rest of the week and make sure your team knows the plan, you’ll be in a great position. And whatever happens on the day, you’ll come out the other side with plenty to learn for next year.

If there’s one common theme running through all of it, it’s knowing what’s actually on your shelves. That’s where an Epos Now POS system can help, keeping track of every sale, return and online order as it happens. And if you’d like to see where things are heading next, take a look at our guide to the future of POS.