January sales up sharply on December 2009 at some high street big names.

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In 2009, some retailers cut their prices by up to 50% in order to sell stock to eager consumers. These price-cuts, in turn, have created a new tradition; the January sales. Some consumers use the remainder of their Christmas holiday to go in search of more bargains, and this trend grows every year. This year, as with last year, there is speculation over how busy the sales will be.

The recession threw many retailers into a panic in January 2009, with many believing that January’s sales would be lower in 2009 than ever before. When crunch time came, however, many stores saw thousands of consumers flocking through their doors, still eager to snag January bargains despite a financially difficult Christmas, perhaps in the knowledge that 2009 would be a lean year as well.

In January 2009 at John Lewis, the department store regularly used as a barometer in retail, sales in all of its stores shot up by 27% from December’s figures, whilst a similar pattern was repeated JD Sports Fashion and Shop Direct Group, owner of Littlewoods.

This year again there is further speculation about the January sales, with the recession still wearing on despite many eager announcements that the green shoots of recovery have been spotted.

Despite what a long recession might mean for retailers, however, consumers know that stores will keep cutting prices until they shift their stock, and the crushing race to hunt down bargains is expected to take hold this month.

The majority of consumers shopping during January are simply looking for cheap products, opportunistically taking advantage of the low prices to stock up on things that they want or didn’t get for Christmas.

There are, however, other growing trends in the motivations behind January shopping.

Some families, refusing to be taken in by Christmas hype, actually prefer to celebrate Christmas in January, buying all of their gifts, food, wrapping paper, Christmas cards and decorations after 25th December in order to miss the rush and buy goods at a half or a quarter of their original price.

Others shoppers split their gift buying into presents for those they will see at Christmas, buying these early, and presents for people they will not see until January, saving money on half of their Christmas shopping. Then, of course, there are the variety of birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions that fall in early January. Gifts for these occasions need buying too, and many shoppers resent paying pre-Christmas prices for gifts that are half as expensive during the rest of the year.

So, they turn to the January sales to try and save some money. Online shopping has grown again this year, with many consumers preferring to do their Christmas shopping online to avoid the crowds.

Since global retailer Amazon set the bar, online shopping has captured the attention of consumers worldwide, and in 2009, online shopping grew once more by between 10 and 14%.

Many consumers, it is believed, will turn to online shopping to avoid the panic and stress of January sales. The same principle of dropping prices to sell more stock applies to the majority of online retailers, but these have the added attraction of shopping from home, rather than battling through hoards of shoppers on the high street. RewardsFirst.co.uk, the online discounts and special offers membership programme, is no exception to this rule.

The site is offering its members access to hundreds of January discounts and special offers. In addition to this, with membership to Rewards First, the savings can continue throughout 2010 with regularly-updated discount codes, helping preparation for birthdays, anniversaries, everyday purchases and even Christmas 2010.