The Sales and The Box

What are we actually witnessing here? In Manchester, London and elsewhere, the BBC brought us reports on how much more was being spent this year than last in the sales, and there were the usual stories of people having queued all night to get the article of their dreams.
Is this biassed BBC parroting Liebore's theme that things are sort-of-not-too-bad? Or is it the last Huzzah! before the deluge?
Two interesting snippets that have wafted over the ether. A "young" 60 year old staying with her daughter and son-in-law is complaining bitterly about the heating not being on during the day - nor a fire. Both workers are very well paid, although they spend a lot. Feeling the pinch rather too much?
The second was on the BBC report from Manchester. The store manager was waxing lyrical about Prada bags with 70% off at £200 and Armani suits at £300 for 50% off.
But the lady who had been the first through the doors had bought a dress reduced from £45 to £22.50, a bag down from £60 to £19 and t-shirts for ther boyfriend reduced from £36 just £24.
Clearly the cheaper end of the market will get the sales.
Who, on the other hand, would ever pay £24 for a t-shirt, never mind £36?
The other thing that caught my eye this morning was the BBC project " The Box".
This follows a container around the world for a year whilst it does its job. It's already taken whisky from Scotland to Shanghai, and tape-measures from Shanghai to New Jersey.
In the meantime, since it set off about 3 months ago, freight rates are down 50%, the Chinese factories are laying off 30% of their workers, as well as cutting their wages by up to 40% and the retailers are busy telling their suppliers either you give us a backdated discount or we'll find someone else.
The most interesting part of this is that effectively the headline 70% off retail prices sounds great - but the new sales prices going forward will probably settle at about 50% off what they were with all parties still making ( some) profit. Hence the fears about deflation - why buy today when it'll be cheaper tomorrow? It happened in Japan for 15 years. Maybe that's why the sales have got off to a good start - people waited for the cheaper prices.
Tough it will be - but good for everyone longterm.