Boxing Day Sales: How Small Shops Should Plan Stock

December 26 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 heading to the stores.

And the week after Christmas is a big deal for retail. According to the National Retail Federation, around 70% of US consumers planned to shop the week after Christmas 2025, with 45% looking for sales and promotions and 26% planning to use gift cards. It’s also when returns start piling up, with Adobe expecting returns between December 26 and 31 to rise 25% to 35% compared with the weeks before Christmas.

But let’s be honest, the after-Christmas sales can be tricky. You’re selling, swapping and clearing inventory 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 holiday inventory. The day after Christmas, festive gifts and decorations feel a bit out of date, but they’re still just about relevant.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 store, how do you juggle all of the above and make the week worth your time? Spoiler: it starts well before anyone’s finished their Christmas dinner.

Why the after-Christmas sales need their own plan

December 26 can be easily forgotten. After all the excitement of Christmas, plenty of people are pretty done by the time it rolls around, and the day tends to just happen, usually involving the couch, a football game and a sizable plate of leftovers. But give people a free day and a bit of holiday money, and plenty of them will end up at the stores. 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 exchange or refund gifts they didn’t want
• Gift card shoppers, who’ve just been given money to spend in your store

That’s why it’s worth having an after-Christmas game plan, because the week after the holidays is a completely different ball game.

1. Look at what sold over the holidays

Before you decide anything, take 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 December 26 and the week after, too. You might find people mostly went for discounted holiday items, 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 the after-Christmas sales mean 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 inventory into a few groups and treat each one differently:

• Holiday inventory: 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.
• Winter inventory: coats, boots, gloves and the like still have a couple of months 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 inventory for the sales, but it’s worth doing some quick math first. Say you buy something for $10 and normally sell it for $20. Take 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, which is usually one of the slowest months of the year.

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 December 26 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 the holidays, so your sale inventory actually arrives in time. And if you’re planning for Black Friday too, take a look at our guide to forecasting inventory for Black Friday without overordering.

4. Remember it’s not just one day

When we talk about the after-Christmas sales, we’re really talking about more than just one day. That strange week between Christmas and New Year’s is prime shopping time, and for most stores, 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 inventory back. Restocking your sale racks and displays over the following days gives people a reason to stop back in, and it means your store still looks full and inviting on the 28th, rather than like the last cookies at the bottom of the jar.

5. Count your inventory before Christmas

This is not the time to get sloppy! Picture it: it’s the morning of December 26, and a customer asks for the half-price boots 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 inventory count 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, your online and in-store inventory is linked through multichannel inventory management, so every sale updates both automatically, and you won’t end up selling the same sweater 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. In fact, retailers expected 17% of holiday sales to be returned in 2025, according to the NRF and Happy Returns. Make sure your return 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 return 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 week you’re going to want your staff to know what’s what. Take a look at last year’s sales to see when your busiest hours were, and plan your schedule around them, so you’re not left with one person at the register while a line forms.

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

Oh, and before we forget: it’s also worth making sure your registers and card readers are ready for the rush, as a long line 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 the week after Christmas. 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 holiday inventory going back in a box for next year, or is it worth marking it down a bit more 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 sales 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 holiday season went.

Wrapping up your after-Christmas plan

The after-Christmas sales don’t have to be a bit of a dud. With a little planning and the right information on hand, they can be a really good week for your store. If you know what sold over the holidays, decide what’s going on sale (and what isn’t), keep a bit of inventory 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, 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’re still getting ready for the weeks before Christmas, our Christmas marketing ideas are a great place to start.