Bargain Fever Britain s01e02 Episode Script
Episode 2
1 In Britain today, we've gone bargain bonkers.
Get in, and let's see what we've got in there.
We don't want to wait for the sales, we want low prices all year round.
I'd have to be mad to pay more than I need to, and I'm not mad.
Would you be able to knock a pound or two off them? Never ever buy full price.
Never.
We'll do whatever it takes.
We'll cash in coupons and stock pile on basics.
We'll fill the freezer and stuff the fridge just to save a few bob.
Got veggie burgers and I think I've got about 23, 24 boxes of them.
We go behind the scenes of four big businesses that deliver bargain prices all year round.
Those ones? They're £8.
They're on offer, it's two for eight.
We like to offer high quality products.
Like caviar.
But how do they survive the madness of Christmas splurges? - How much have I just spent, John? - 12,000.
- Oooh! And the sales when everyone wants a piece of the bargain bonanza.
Cheap, cheap, cheap.
12 quid's worth of biscuits, 1p, grab 'em while you can.
This is the story of Bargain Fever Britain in the sales season.
Someone's wrote bum in the shoe.
What does that say in the other one? Poo.
It's 6 AM in North London.
And there's already a large queue outside ASDA supermarket waiting for bargains.
I've been here since just after 3 AM.
Today is the last Friday of November.
In America, this is traditionally a day of manic sales known as Black Friday.
Now this day of dizzying discounts has come across the Atlantic.
Black Friday's been all over the news, the papers.
It's been huge in the States.
I'm trying to get bargains whether it's bikes, TVs, headphones, you name it, I'm trying to get it.
You have to get up early to get a bargain.
Shoppers have sacrificed a night's sleep.
But could they be about to sacrifice their safety, too? Two minutes.
Get in and let's see what we got in there.
The discounted TVs are in short supply, and the scramble is on to get one.
The competition for the tellies has turned into a tug of war.
Some win, some lose.
But were the bargains worth it? It was OK in the beginning, but Everyone was squashed into each other, pushing in.
And it was really hard so I had to stand aside.
We got this TV and this TV, but had to go through a lot of pain to get the thing.
Think I hurt my foot while getting it, but it was worth it, though.
There's a queue over there.
In Sheffield, Dan Cluderay, the owner of Approved Food, is thinking of cashing in on Black Friday, too.
I don't know if people actually want food on Black Friday, so all this is going to be a trial.
If it works it's great, if it doesn't we'll just have to see.
Approved Food sells products the supermarkets can't shift, like food that's out of date.
We sell clearance food and drink.
It's products that have a best before date and not a use by, there's a big difference.
We can have anything from cereals to boxes of chocolates, so these are already, they're like a month out of date.
In the shops, this would be about 40 quid, believe it or not.
We're selling them for 3.
99.
Dan will be working with his trusty lieutenants, Perry and Julian.
- Morning, guys.
- Morning.
- Morning.
It's Black Friday, me plan is to do one penny deals.
We've got to pick the right ones.
I've got no idea right now what the product is, but if we can have a deco and just see.
Maybe the Del Monte would be a good one cos everybody knows Del Monte, they're massive.
If you did a case of those.
It's got to be something like this in't it.
Yeah, like a case of that for a penny.
It's got to be a big brand.
We'd normally sell it at about £3 a case.
We're gonna do them at a penny.
What do you reckon? You'd be crazy not to go in for it.
If we punch way above us weight with this, it could spread, it could go viral.
- We'll have a look at the next one, yeah? - Yeah.
- OK.
Dan's going to do a number of penny deals throughout the day, so he needs to choose a few different products.
Black Friday were just made for people like Dan.
It's his chance to do a crazy deal.
48 mini bags in total for a penny.
- That's your craziest deal.
- I think that's the deal of the day.
Absolutely the deal of the day.
This is the maddest thing I have ever done.
It could go spectacularly wrong, there is absolutely no doubting that.
- Yep.
- Cool, we're in.
Let's eat them.
No, let's not eat them, let's sell them.
That's what we'll do.
Good, right.
To get the penny deal, each customer will need to spend £30 at checkout.
Dan's emailing all his customers about the offer and uploading a video, too.
Are you ready? Here it is, it's the two hour deal.
12 quid's worth of biscuits, 1p for two hours.
Grab 'em while you can.
Yep, cool.
Right, next one.
While Dan's getting the word out about his penny deals, in central London, the streets are heaving with Black Friday bargain hunters.
I saw it on the news, yeah.
Google News, Sky News, everywhere.
It's just been everywhere really.
I found quite a few bargains.
Probably 50% of my Christmas shopping is done.
I looked at it as the more money I spent, the more discount I'd get.
So, I mean, it's probably not the best way to look at it, but it's all waiting, so yeah.
It's not just British high streets that were busy on Black Friday.
We spent £810 million online.
Making it the biggest day ever for UK online sales.
In Sheffield, Dan and Perry are looking back on how the day went.
It wasn't as good a day as we were expecting.
Not everybody got the emails because of technical glitches.
The internet was just so busy with the messages that we've being pounded out.
That we had all these messages to deliver within a certain time and they just couldn't get through.
So it turned out to be a bit of a non-event.
But all is not lost.
Moving forward, Dan and his team will have to make sure December is not a turkey.
In Bradford, high street shoe store, Shoe Zone, stacks 'em high and sells 'em cheap.
As December gets underway, manager Jane and the team are going into one of the busiest times of the year.
That's 24.
96 altogether, please.
Most of what we're selling at the moment are presents.
I bet out of every three sales, one of them's slippers at this time of year.
It is big bucks.
Oh, I love these, they're lovely.
I like my spots, 7.
99.
And, actually, we're doing this massive offer at the moment, two for eight mix and match.
You can get a mans pair and a ladies pair for £8.
It's really good, good value.
Across the country, Shoe Zone will sell over half a million pairs of slippers in December.
How much altogether? - They're on offer.
It's two for eight.
- Yeah.
That's £5.
01.
There we are, thank you very much.
While Jane sells slippers out front, behind the scenes, shop assistant Leoni is also hard at work.
The sale's coming on for Boxing Day.
And that's Boxing Day's crazy.
I would say that we hold over 20,000 pairs of shoes, so it's kind of difficult to do it all on one day.
So we start prepping it pretty early.
So then it's done and it does get really busy on Boxing Day as well.
In the stock room, Leoni starts reducing the price of boots that are still selling at full price on the shop floor.
We start with this one.
So we get the right foot, ticket it with 50% off, write the card out, all ready.
So we're literally going to put them in the basket on Christmas Eve and the card in the top.
All right, so we've got them from 14.
99 to 7.
49.
When they shut up shop on Christmas Eve, the Shoe Zone team will have only an hour to create the biggest event of the year -- the Boxing Day sale.
It's such a pain for it to be Christmas time cos it gets so busy.
This is it, this is the thing about retail.
When everyone else is off it's our busiest time.
If they don't want to spend Christmas Day locked inside the shopping centre, they'll have to get everything prepared beforehand.
But can they get it all done in time? Lots of hard work, lots of stress.
In Bargain Fever Britain, stores all over the country have found ways to offer us discounted goods all year round.
Multi-billion pound global giant, Costco, has over 600 warehouses worldwide, but their profit margin is so small they never do a sale.
Get one of those as it's always nice in the freezer, isn't it? The store charges an annual membership fee, and the bulk of their business is traders buying wholesale.
But this close to Christmas, members have more personal business on their minds.
Fortunately I've got a bloomin' great big garage so I stock it up on the go.
In Surrey, some members are buying basics in bulk.
Now, you can't have this in your house and give an excuse for not brushing your teeth.
You know, no excuse, mouths shouldn't smell.
Other members are stocking up with festive delights.
With no sale coming up in January, Costco needs to make the most of our seasonal splurge on food and drink.
They're calling today a panic Saturday.
I think people are realising we're days away from Christmas and they're just stocking up ready for the festive season.
We've just coming shopping today for some Christmas drink really.
Yeah, it's really nice, really good quality stuff.
- We've got some fillet steak for dinner.
- Yeah, yummy.
Everybody says I look like the Grinch.
Cant see why.
- We'll have to paint you green and then you will.
- Yeah.
The store has brought in products especially for Christmas, like this cut price caviar.
I think it's really good value for money if you like caviar or if it's a special event.
If you want to show off to your friends.
- Shall I buy you some? - Yeah! Member, Monique, is snapping it up.
I'm going to go and get a pot of caviar.
I'm going to hide that at the back of the fridge because the kids are just gonna spoon it in, so that's definitely something for me, I think.
The caviar is kept in a fridge out back, and Luke's keeping an eye on it.
We've got the ice pack to keep it cool and then caviar's just in the fridge here.
Pop it in there, and give it back to the member.
Easy as.
There you are.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you very much.
It's the last Saturday before Christmas, and in the meat department, assistant manager Tom has more than just meat to keep his eye on.
It's going to be the busiest day of the year today.
Got seasonal products, whole turkeys.
You've got types of fresh fish, you've got lobster, crab claws and different sized prawns.
I just like watching little children's faces when they come to this cos sometimes it's the first time they've ever seen whole prawns.
Tom's been stocking up since 4 AM and has 500 turkeys.
But he has other meats to take care of today, too.
This building's 40% beef.
40% of meat sales is beef.
This time of year people like to spoil their selves a little bit more, so they treat their selves.
We'll be cutting a lot of these.
Costco sells well over a million pounds' worth of beef roasting joints in the run up to Christmas.
Tom and the Farnborough team could be in for a very busy day.
Better off going for a whole one or just the crown? I think the crown's less hassle.
Customer, Nikki, and her daughter, Georgia, have come in for some last minute essentials.
- Enough potatoes for you? - Enough potatoes.
- Are you sure? - Yeah, just need the turkey to go with the potatoes now.
From turf to surf, we're splurging on the luxuries in life.
We spent over £20 billion on food and drink in the run up to Christmas last year.
Tom wants to make sure that nobody's disappointed.
The worst thing that could happen is that we sold out of turkeys.
I wouldn't like to upset somebody's Christmas because we couldn't fulfil the stock.
Tom's birds are big, but are they big enough for Nikki's Christmas table? I need bigger than all of these.
- 6.
5? - No I need bigger than that.
Are they the biggest you've got? - The biggest we've got is probably six and a half.
- Is it? - That'll be the biggest.
- Well, bang goes the turkey, we've not got that! - Sorry about that.
- It's all right.
Ah, that's a sod, innit? I can't believe that.
With member Nikki disappointed, Tom's starting to worry if he'll have enough birds to get him through the day.
We Brits eat around 10 million turkeys at Christmas, and 60,000 of them will come from Costco.
Tom's stock is flying out the door.
The turkeys today were topped up 20, 30 times at least.
It's five kilogram birds, so it's like going to the gym.
I'm actually starting to panic that I might run out.
Three hours and four restocks later, Tom draws a sigh of relief.
It's nearing the end of the day.
It's good that we've not run out of turkeys.
The stock in the back is pretty low.
It should last me through until our next delivery on Monday.
So I'm really pleased about that.
Tired, but go home, get a couple of hours sleep, and start again tomorrow.
While many stores have their busiest time of year in December, it's a different story in the motor trade.
December is notoriously a hard month in all car sales.
It could be two or three customers you see a day.
You know, you've got to make sure that two or three customers you see now are ones you potentially gonna try and get them to have a car.
Motorpoint in Newport is a car supermarket.
Nearly new vehicles are sold at discounted prices.
It's in white.
Which I know was one of the preferences.
It's a popular store.
Nearly 600 cars are sold in a busy month like March.
But less than 400 are sold in December.
There's nothing more frustrating than staring into an empty space, but you can't sell a car to fresh air, so unless we've got the foot flow, we can't do anything else about it.
- You got nothing on the boil at the moment, no? - Nothing at all.
I've got one from yesterday hopefully calling back.
But that's about it really.
When footfall is low, it's even more crucial for the team to make sales.
Russell is making sure that that's what they're doing.
It's the tough time of the year, it's just all hands on deck.
Got to get stuck in, it's necessary, it's needed.
We can't just say it's Christmas and write the month off.
The salesman need to try and shift 24 cars each this month.
Ben's trying to generate interest calling previous customers.
My name's Ben.
I'm calling from Motorpoint in Newport.
How are you, are you OK? You all planned for Christmas now or you still got a bit to do? You've still got loads to do? It's just a quick courtesy call, we've got more stock at the moment down here at Motorpoint Newport, just to see if we can potentially arrange an appointment for you to come down and have a look at a few more.
Ok, fair enough, fair enough.
Well, I'll leave you to it.
After a couple of hours, Ben gets lucky and lands some interested customers -- Mike and Becca.
It's a really nice colour, it's called shark grey.
It's a low mileage, it's only done 5,000 miles, which is really good.
Mike's very savvy when it comes to looking at cars and getting his money's worth.
I'm not, I'm like a magpie.
I like anything shiny and anything new.
You're saving yourself a huge saving from the main dealer, £5,800.
While Ben tries his best to sell a car, Kyle's waiting for customers.
He got taken on permanently two months ago, and is still proving himself.
It is pretty tough.
This is the first December I've worked.
There's hardly no one coming in really.
Very, very nice.
One customer, Richard, has just come in with his brother.
He has a baby on the way and is looking to change vehicles.
Hi, Richard, you all right, mate? How you getting along? Good, thanks.
Richard's interested in a Ford Focus for just under £14,000.
Why this one more than the other one? - It's got more toys on it.
- Yeah, yeah, you like your toys.
- Looks a bit more sporty.
- You have got everything on it.
It is pretty important for me to seal the deal with this guy.
Hopefully, fingers crossed, he'll buy a car.
In Sheffield, budget brand, Approved Food, specialises in products mainstream stores can't sell.
It's mid-December and no one's buying advent calendars any more -- except Dan.
This is exactly where Approved Food, sort of like, steps up to the mark.
People love chocolate and whether it's wrapped in a nice tidy bar or whether it's in a bag, it's still in date.
The only thing out of date about him is that there's a number one on the front.
Like, it's just seasonally out of date.
And it still is value for money.
Dan's stock comes from wholesalers who haven't managed to sell their calendars to the shops in time.
He's buying them for 10-12 pence, and selling them at three for £1.
From now on in, we're getting people, you can almost hear that they've got their head in their hands as they're phoning up and saying, "What will you give me for these advent calendars?" In December, Dan's business slumps from 600 orders a day to just 300.
People are not really thinking now about cheap food and drink, they're thinking about, "Have we got everything in place for Auntie Joan coming round?" And all the rest of the things.
Today, Dan's off on a buying trip to look for unusual deals to tempt in these elusive December customers.
We're gonna be looking at things which are just a bit different.
We've got to strike the right deal and the key to the business is don't buy somebody else's problem.
We need to solve problems, not create them for ourselves.
- Hi, Dan.
- All right, fella? I'll tell you what I'm looking for.
Any sort of quirkiness.
Things that are just a bit different.
First up, some chocolates left over from Halloween.
This one I need a quick decision on.
27 pence.
Don't trick me on that one.
- How long's it been since Halloween? - I said don't trick me on it.
Seasonal products, not out of date yet.
Choc orange, right we'll have all them.
Also up Dan's street are unusual flavoured goods that some shops have had trouble selling.
- Have you ever sold melted cheese and bacon? - All the time.
Weird and wonderful, Dan comes in and just mops it all up for me and it's good for me and it's good for Dan.
John has saved his quirkiest product till last.
Mint chocolate Pringles.
That is the strangest tasting crisp I have ever had.
I've got absolutely no idea if people are going to buy these again or not.
I guess the test will be, at night, will I be craving one of these? Yeah, whatever you've got I'll clear those up.
33p.
That's around 500 tubes to you and me to add to Dan's shopping list.
- How much have I just spent, John? - About 12,000.
Ooh, lets hope I can sell it in time.
- If not, can I bring it back? Is that all right? - No.
- No.
In Bargain Fever Britain, December's a tricky time of year.
For some it's feast.
For others, famine.
We literally haven't seen no one for an hour or so now.
When we're splurging on presents, parties and turkeys, buying a car is the last thing on our minds.
Business is slow, but salesman Ben might be in a position to grab a rare December deal.
Customers Mike and Becca are very keen on a Citroen DS3.
It's a nice colour as well, isn't it.
Look at it, Mike.
See, magpie, magpie.
It's really, really nice.
You've got your auxiliary cable in there as well so you can plug, don't know if you've got an iPhone - or things like that, you can actually plug that into it as well.
Ok.
- What's this? - That's a key.
- Oh.
- All right? Happy, yeah? - What do you think, do you like it? - Yeah.
- Love it, don't you? - I was sold when I saw it.
Its economical, it looks nice and it's cheap to run so it's what everyone wants in this kind of climate.
It's really, really good, great choice.
Nice early Christmas present for you.
Look how happy you are.
Mike and Becca are snapping up the Citroen without even taking it for a test drive, so it's a fast sale for Ben.
All right, guys, after you.
They knew what car they wanted, they'd obviously done their shopping around.
They've narrowed it down to the Citroen DS3, it's exactly what they wanted.
She loved it, fell in love with it.
So it was a very, very easy sale.
Drive away in that nice, new car in an hour or so.
Across the forecourt, newbie salesman Kyle isn't having such good luck.
He's been helping customer Richard for over an hour now.
So, what would you like to do now? If possible I'd like to take it out for a test drive.
Go for a spin, is it? Yeah, no problem.
He's pulling out all the stops.
Do you want, erm, while we take your details, do you want a cup of tea or coffee? Or even a bacon sandwich? - A bacon sandwich? - Yeah, yeah! - Yeah, that'd be great.
- You want a bacon sandwich, do you? No problem.
There you are, mate.
Very nice, like.
It's free.
You can't go wrong with that, like, can you.
I'm not sure it would persuade me to buy the car, but it's a nice add on.
Richard might be delighted with the deli, but Kyle isn't convinced he'll seal the deal.
So, yeah, I'm not feeling so positive now.
He was really excited at the start, but them times are fading away.
We'll see, we'll go on a drive and he might love it.
- So, you excited? - Yeah, yeah, it looks good.
- Yeah? The test drive is Kyle's last chance to stoke Richard's interest and encourage a sale.
Right then.
Here we go.
What do you think of the drive, like? How does it feel? Yeah, it's not bumpy.
Probably good for me with a little nipper on the way.
- Have you seen the boot on the Focus? - Yeah, that's the main thing.
- Be ideal for your pram and stuff like that.
- Yeah.
If your missus does your head in you can chuck her in.
More like the other way round.
With the test drive over, it's the moment of truth.
Crunch time now then I suppose, do you want the car? - I'm not sure, to be honest.
- You're unsure? OK.
There's a couple of others on Auto Trader, I wanted to check those out as well.
OK, I hope you decide to go ahead with it, hope you like the car.
- Thanks for your help.
- And, yeah, enjoy your Christmas.
- You too, yeah.
- And if you're ever near you can pop in and give me a Christmas present or something.
Sounds good.
Richard's off to think it over, but for Kyle, it's not a deal today.
It's a bit like that, do you know what I mean, so it's all up in the air a little bit.
So I've got to make sure I work hard every day and make sure I do hit these targets.
It's almost Christmas, and Dan is worried about his advent calendar sales.
We've got about 3,000 left.
They're really starting to slow down, these advent calendar sales.
So now we've got to step them back up.
We've been at three for a quid.
It's time to move them up to something a bit more special.
Ideally, we want to be out of them by the end of the year.
Dan's decided to drop the price from three for £1 to five, and he's doing a video to spice up interest.
It's that honest market trader, stood there, this is what I've got for sale, this is the price, and you see if people engage.
- Now then, Perry lad.
You all right, fella? - Not bad, you? Right, great stuff.
Great, great, great.
Dan's enlisting the help of chief taster and online whizz, Perry.
Let's just get them blown out now.
We'll.
.
May as well do it now while they still want chocolate cos they'll not want chocolate in January, they'll be wanting to lose weight.
Yeah, that's right.
If we go five for a quid.
Do a video.
They're getting 120 chocolates then for a quid then, aren't they.
Well that's a good way of putting it, isn't it.
I think, what I'll do is, I'll go and grab the kids and I'll let them sell these ones to make it that bit more quirky.
Right, good stuff.
OK, pal.
Catch you in a bit.
Right then, you two rotters, are you ready to do some work? - Um, yeah.
- Right, onward.
Straight down, we're going down onto those aisles, OK.
Dan's keeping the PR in the family with sons Rudy and Jay.
Are you ready for it? Are you ready for it? That was the worst high five ever.
- What are we selling today? - Advent calendars.
- Advent callies.
How many advent calendars for a pound are we gonna be selling? - Five.
- Three.
- Have you read your lines? - No.
I can tell that.
Right, we're selling five advent calendars for a pound.
When I first started, there was a bloke who's just come from nowhere, who's asking people to buy out of date food.
You know, like, the fact that I'd put my face against it and say, "It's all right, buy this, it's gonna be good.
" You know, like, was a real key thing back at the start and that has just sort of grown with us, you know.
Here we are, we've got a special on advent calendars.
And to make it special we have got my two lads, Rudy and Jay.
Right, kids, what are we selling? We're selling five advent calendars for £1.
- Really? How many chocolates do you get in that? - 120.
120? Brilliant.
Right, Rudy, this is it, this is your big piece.
I want you to take it away, the full pitch, like the old man -- go for it.
Big deal, smash the like button.
Um, we've got advent calendars, five for £1.
That's 120 120 chocolates in just £1.
Is that it? Excellent video.
Five for a pound, they're not gonna be here for long.
Enjoy.
Brilliant, that one, lads.
Do you want to know how much you're getting paid for this? Absolutely nothing.
In fact, you owe me a pound for all the chocolates you've ate.
- Oh! - No! - Ah! I could be lumbered with thousands of advent calendars, but at least I can blame it on my kids.
It's Christmas Eve and, in Bradford, Jane and the Shoe Zone team are grabbing a quick five minutes of festive fun.
Merry Christmas, whose is the red one? - That's yours.
- Oh, is that mine? Oh! Are you going to open them? Mmmmm.
Bath salts and wine.
Relax, relax.
- Now that's a good combination.
- I told you.
Ah, yes, know him well.
Knows me very well, very well indeed.
Thank you.
- Merry Christmas, everybody.
- Merry Christmas.
Sorry, but we all have to go back out and work.
OK? Christmas Eve is one of the busiest days of the year at Shoe Zone.
Jane and the staff must get two jobs done today.
They'll be selling last minute Christmas presents and, later, they've got to get the shop ready for the Boxing Day sale before they leave.
All of this is sale -- customers don't know that yet.
Right, and as soon as it's dropped, we'll be ticketing like mad.
We've got to get the posters down, the baskets changed.
Gradually getting ready for our big sale which starts Boxing Day.
So we don't want to be here very late so we're trying to get as much done as possible.
I have worked every Christmas Eve, but it's all right.
I mean, it's worth it.
They haven't got much time.
The shopping centre closes at 17:00.
Jane needs to keep the shop open until 16:00.
If I've not gone back to my car, I'll be staying the night.
Sorry.
It's 16:00, and the last minute shoppers are still coming in.
You all sorted now with your last bits? Kind of, always running late year after year.
Ooh, it's always the same, always something last minute.
12 months to prepare for Christmas and we do the shopping until the last hour.
- Bye bye.
- Thank you.
Bye bye.
At quarter past four, the last customer leaves.
Jane shuts up shop and the team swings into action.
Do you want to put the boots out for me.
Are you going to see to this one? Two sale header cards.
50% nearest the top.
- Oh, so it's just them left on? - Yeah.
And put posters in the window now.
What I need you to do is the sticker on the end of the arm only.
Them, them, them.
It's five to five and, in the nick of time, they've done it.
They need a round of applause, I tell ya.
Now I'm going home now, I'll be wrapping presents, I've got vegetables to peel, a turkey to stuff, but it's different at home.
With a glass of wine in my hand I'll be quite happy.
In 36 hours, doors will open for the Boxing Day sale.
But has the team done enough to pull in Bradford's bargain-hungry army of shoppers? In Bargain Fever Britain, there's barely a break for Christmas and it's full speed ahead with the Boxing Day sales.
It's the 27th of December and, in Bradford, Shoe Zone manager Jane is already back at work.
Right, yeah, closed Christmas Eve and with a bat of an eye lid and we're back again.
In between it was some turkey and that's it.
For Christmas I only had one day off and that was Christmas Day.
I didn't really feel like I had a Christmas, but it's retail, you've gotta do what you've gotta do haven't you so We've done so much getting this sale ready, so fingers crossed we have a busy day.
In Britain last year, we spent £3 billion in the Boxing Day sales.
And Jane wants her share of the action.
14.
99, thank you.
We've got some fabulous boots half price.
Long ones and short ones.
Well worth it.
I'm getting these.
- Well they was - 20.
20.
And they're now £10.
Right bargain.
There you are, love.
9.
99, thank you.
4.
99.
Yeah, thank you.
The tills are filling up and the shelves are emptying.
I need someone to tidy up and someone to get those fill ups done as fast as you can, please.
The shoes must be restocked constantly.
And on a day like this, the restock list is long.
Oh, my God.
Everything we sell obviously comes on the print out.
I've got to go around the entire shelves, locate it, and then get it to Leoni for her to tag and put out onto the shop floor.
But working at such a frantic pace, it's tempting to cut a few corners.
Ah! Oh, sorry, Leoni, did that hit you? - That wasn't very nice, Nick.
- Hey? Well, I couldn't see you.
Do you know, I should hit him back.
Hey? Oh, that did, that broke my glasses nearly.
You did hit my glasses.
- Sorry.
- You can't get the staff, you know.
- Hey? - Are you OK? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
Leoni needs to replenish stock, but she can't until she's tidied up.
It is very full on at times.
It's just so stressful, people are dropping things on the floor and you just wanna But you can't.
Get ready to shut shop now.
It's gone half past five now.
Jane is hoping for a record breaking day to make the stress all worthwhile.
This is what we've sold today, 334 pairs.
And don't forget, that's a lot of selling and a lot of bargains there.
But the working day's not over yet.
Jane, somebody's written bum and poo in the shoe.
That's disgusting.
What little kid And some parent's just thought they're being quiet.
- Bum and poo.
- You child.
Many of us love a sale, but for mum of two and committed coupon shopper, Holly, saving money is a way of life.
She's taking advantage of the January sales to stockpile for next Christmas -- 11 months in advance.
Buying all the wrapping paper, all the presents.
Just getting everything done with so when Christmas comes around I don't have to stress at all.
She's snapping up cut price toys for next year's presents.
If someone hits you, you get an electric shock through the gun.
So it just makes it a bit more fun.
Especially if the child I buy this for puts it on their mum.
So I'm buying this, this is reduced form £10 to £3.
48.
- That is awesome.
- What is that? Star Wars! Look, they move! Holly might be strict with the pennies, but husband Callum has to be careful, too.
If I see something I like, I do want to buy it, but she controls the purse strings, so - He'll just buy anything.
- I know I would! Full price or not full price.
I had to train him.
When I first met him, not so good.
He actually doesn't ever buy me anything unless it's in the sale now.
I really wouldn't dare.
It'd be nice to go home with something and say, "Oh, yeah, I like that.
" But the consequences No, just not worth my time.
Never ever buy full price.
Never.
- Thanks a lot, take care.
- Thank you.
Thanks.
Holly's made a successful haul, but one item in particular has put a smile on her face.
Bargain of the day because this actually scanned up a lot cheaper than what it said.
Says £9 and it wasn't advertised on offer, but I absolutely love it cos I love anything vintage.
So I thought, "I have to get it.
" And it scanned through at £2.
75.
So, bargain of the day.
Back at home, Holly takes stock of her early bird hoard.
Wrapping paper.
These are normally about £2 a roll.
But I've got all these rolls, 12 rolls, for less than £2.
I've got these little wooden puzzles, these are normally £3 each.
They were reduced to a pound.
And I've got the Christmas tree which is normally £20 and I got that for £3.
I have people say to me, "You've done a fantastic job, you've saved so much money.
I wish I could be more like you.
" And then you'll get people, "Oh, you're the scrooge, you don't want to spend money at Christmas.
" While some may scoff, Holly's all set for Christmas 2015 and she's saved a fortune.
So all this, everything, including the presents, less than £20.
If I can make life easier at Christmas, it's a time where all families struggle, so I don't care what other people think to be honest with you.
I save money and it helps my family so I'm gonna do it.
The January sales are rich pickings for bargain hungry Brits.
But for year round discounters like Costco, a sale is impossible as their tiny profit margins would disappear.
Everything that comes into the store has to sell.
So it's critical they are ahead of the trends.
In early January that means cashing in on our guilty consciences.
So, what are you gonna do with all the weight management items? - What are we going to do with those? - What I'm thinking is putting that with the proteins on the back of centres with the fitness equipment.
You wanna go on diet after Christmas.
We eating very healthy.
Lots of vegetables, lots of fruit.
Someone told me I should take cod liver oil to help your joints, cos I'm quite crunchy.
In Surrey, manager Steve has got his healthy stock in, but given that most new year's resolutions are forgotten by February, the clock is ticking.
Steve's got less than two weeks to sell his healthier wares, perfect timing for an in-store promotion.
- Have you tried coconut water before? - No.
When you demo something it drives sales.
It's really nice, it naturally rehydrates you.
Perfect for anybody doing any sport or gyms.
- There you go, darling.
Ok.
- Thank you.
You're welcome.
See you later.
Peter's been working as a demonstrator for nearly two years.
I enjoy doing this job.
You know, I enjoy it.
You know, you come in, you have a smile, you get to meet different people daily.
But encouraging people's interest isn't always easy.
Would you guys like the try some coconut water today? Hi, guys, would you like to try some coconut water today? No problem, guys, you have a good day.
- What do you think? Not your cup of tea? - No.
So far it has actually been quite a slow day, everyone's all back at work so it's only the members that have got a day off that are gonna be popping in.
As the day progresses, the store gets busier, and Peter meets the members who are still trying to start the year with a health kick.
Do you like that one? Yeah? You want one of them ones then, sir? - Yeah.
Yeah, shall we? - Yeah? Oh, you can fit it underneath there? Would you like a case of those today? Yeah? - There we go, madam.
- Thank you.
- It's six of them, madam, yes? - Yeah.
Most of us drop our good intentions half way through January, but Steve's already 10 steps ahead.
The Easter eggs came in the week after Christmas.
We had a lot of comments from members saying, "Wow, what are we doing?" But we're in early, we're out early.
Just to clear them through.
While some are looking forward to Easter, for those who sell last season's food, January can only mean one thing.
You won't be able to buy, you know, mince pies in the supermarkets.
I've got thousands of them.
We'll continue to get that for a good two or three months yet.
In December, Dan bought a wide range of products to keep his customers interested.
Including a bunch of unusual tasting crisps.
They actually sold out within two weeks.
So we ended up, when we got offered more, actually buying, like, another 1,000.
And it was great.
He also bought rather a few advent calendars -- 26,000 to be precise -- and did a video to promote them.
Just have a look at the comments, things like this: "Not sure that the big lad knows what he's doing, but I'd buy owt off the little 'uns.
10 out of 10.
" The overall feeling is that all the comments liked the kids and didn't like me, but that's life isn't it.
In total we shifted 26,000 advent calendars that would have been otherwise destined for, I don't know where.
Along the way everyone got value for money.
It's now early January, and people are hungry for the car bargains to be had before the new registration comes in.
At Motorpoint in Newport, the lads are getting ready to cash in.
But first, it's time to crown 2014's salesman of the year.
Just wanted to say well done to Andy last year, you know, top salesman.
But as the first busy weekend of 2015 gets under way, top dog, Andy, is sharing the top spot.
Well done to Andy, Kyle, both on seven deals for the week.
Good start, yeah, but a lot of you need to buck your ideas up and have a good weekend.
Let's go out there, come on, lads.
It's a shock upset.
Newbie Kyle is level with top seller Andy this week.
It's an impressive start to the year.
Doing pretty well.
Considering how many sales guys here.
15 sales guys here and I'm second on the board for the week.
I think for the month as well actually.
By the middle of the day, Andy's sold three cars.
If he can keep up this pace he'll have no trouble retaining his crown.
This customer is looking at an Astra 1.
6 SRI.
I'm gonna to take her on a test drive in the Astra and with a bit of luck we'll have a deal.
Do you like it? Give me two seconds, I'll just go and get a trade plate.
It looks like Andy's about to nail another deal.
- Um, I don't like it.
- Really? - No.
- Fair enough.
No, in the nicest possible way.
The customer don't like, erm, don't like the drive of it.
She doesn't think its quick enough on acceleration so back to the drawing board, they're gonna have another look round.
This set back could ruin Andy's day.
I thought it was going to be a sale, yes, so while they're looking round I think I'm gonna go in there and just beat myself over the head with this for about five minutes and see what I'm pitching when they're ready.
Leah wants to try another car, so Andy gets ready for test drive number two.
This is a lot better.
Ticks all the boxes -- fuel economy, free tax.
- Right, so would you go for that one? - Yes.
- Yeah? - Yes.
It's not as simple as I'd like, it was close to three hours all in all.
But, yeah, as long as you have something at the end of it, it's been worth it.
Andy's competitor, Kyle, has had a few problems of his own today.
Yeah, to be honest with you, really, really mad day today.
I've sat so many people down, do you know what I mean, and I've only just, I've only just done a deal, like.
Kyle's only made one sale all day.
And Andy's back on top with a convincing victory.
I've sold six today, so in terms of a Saturday, well any day, its wicked really.
Right boys, very productive day today.
Well done.
So drinks on me down the New Inn if you fancy it, yeah.
We've had a very, very good start to January so hopefully this will set the seed for the rest of the year and it'll boom and we'll have another successful year coming up.
For Kyle, a successful 2015 means only one thing.
My goal now is to beat Andy.
Cos he's the best salesman here, you know, but that's my goal.
Smash Andy every month.
Bargain Fever Britain seems here to stay.
We no longer brag about fancy £5 coffees, we brag about how little we've paid.
Sometimes we save more, sometimes we save less, but we always save, so that's the main thing.
Free, cheap or just good value, the face of British retail is changing, and so is the pace.
No, we will always have sales.
We will always have sales.
It's just a constant cycle, just more coming in more going out, it's like Groundhog Day.
We enjoy our groundhog.
Bargain Fever has firmly taken root in Britain, so what's next? Right now I'm sending out about 50 to 60 orders a day to all over Germany.
It looks like all of Europe loves a bargain.
Get in, and let's see what we've got in there.
We don't want to wait for the sales, we want low prices all year round.
I'd have to be mad to pay more than I need to, and I'm not mad.
Would you be able to knock a pound or two off them? Never ever buy full price.
Never.
We'll do whatever it takes.
We'll cash in coupons and stock pile on basics.
We'll fill the freezer and stuff the fridge just to save a few bob.
Got veggie burgers and I think I've got about 23, 24 boxes of them.
We go behind the scenes of four big businesses that deliver bargain prices all year round.
Those ones? They're £8.
They're on offer, it's two for eight.
We like to offer high quality products.
Like caviar.
But how do they survive the madness of Christmas splurges? - How much have I just spent, John? - 12,000.
- Oooh! And the sales when everyone wants a piece of the bargain bonanza.
Cheap, cheap, cheap.
12 quid's worth of biscuits, 1p, grab 'em while you can.
This is the story of Bargain Fever Britain in the sales season.
Someone's wrote bum in the shoe.
What does that say in the other one? Poo.
It's 6 AM in North London.
And there's already a large queue outside ASDA supermarket waiting for bargains.
I've been here since just after 3 AM.
Today is the last Friday of November.
In America, this is traditionally a day of manic sales known as Black Friday.
Now this day of dizzying discounts has come across the Atlantic.
Black Friday's been all over the news, the papers.
It's been huge in the States.
I'm trying to get bargains whether it's bikes, TVs, headphones, you name it, I'm trying to get it.
You have to get up early to get a bargain.
Shoppers have sacrificed a night's sleep.
But could they be about to sacrifice their safety, too? Two minutes.
Get in and let's see what we got in there.
The discounted TVs are in short supply, and the scramble is on to get one.
The competition for the tellies has turned into a tug of war.
Some win, some lose.
But were the bargains worth it? It was OK in the beginning, but Everyone was squashed into each other, pushing in.
And it was really hard so I had to stand aside.
We got this TV and this TV, but had to go through a lot of pain to get the thing.
Think I hurt my foot while getting it, but it was worth it, though.
There's a queue over there.
In Sheffield, Dan Cluderay, the owner of Approved Food, is thinking of cashing in on Black Friday, too.
I don't know if people actually want food on Black Friday, so all this is going to be a trial.
If it works it's great, if it doesn't we'll just have to see.
Approved Food sells products the supermarkets can't shift, like food that's out of date.
We sell clearance food and drink.
It's products that have a best before date and not a use by, there's a big difference.
We can have anything from cereals to boxes of chocolates, so these are already, they're like a month out of date.
In the shops, this would be about 40 quid, believe it or not.
We're selling them for 3.
99.
Dan will be working with his trusty lieutenants, Perry and Julian.
- Morning, guys.
- Morning.
- Morning.
It's Black Friday, me plan is to do one penny deals.
We've got to pick the right ones.
I've got no idea right now what the product is, but if we can have a deco and just see.
Maybe the Del Monte would be a good one cos everybody knows Del Monte, they're massive.
If you did a case of those.
It's got to be something like this in't it.
Yeah, like a case of that for a penny.
It's got to be a big brand.
We'd normally sell it at about £3 a case.
We're gonna do them at a penny.
What do you reckon? You'd be crazy not to go in for it.
If we punch way above us weight with this, it could spread, it could go viral.
- We'll have a look at the next one, yeah? - Yeah.
- OK.
Dan's going to do a number of penny deals throughout the day, so he needs to choose a few different products.
Black Friday were just made for people like Dan.
It's his chance to do a crazy deal.
48 mini bags in total for a penny.
- That's your craziest deal.
- I think that's the deal of the day.
Absolutely the deal of the day.
This is the maddest thing I have ever done.
It could go spectacularly wrong, there is absolutely no doubting that.
- Yep.
- Cool, we're in.
Let's eat them.
No, let's not eat them, let's sell them.
That's what we'll do.
Good, right.
To get the penny deal, each customer will need to spend £30 at checkout.
Dan's emailing all his customers about the offer and uploading a video, too.
Are you ready? Here it is, it's the two hour deal.
12 quid's worth of biscuits, 1p for two hours.
Grab 'em while you can.
Yep, cool.
Right, next one.
While Dan's getting the word out about his penny deals, in central London, the streets are heaving with Black Friday bargain hunters.
I saw it on the news, yeah.
Google News, Sky News, everywhere.
It's just been everywhere really.
I found quite a few bargains.
Probably 50% of my Christmas shopping is done.
I looked at it as the more money I spent, the more discount I'd get.
So, I mean, it's probably not the best way to look at it, but it's all waiting, so yeah.
It's not just British high streets that were busy on Black Friday.
We spent £810 million online.
Making it the biggest day ever for UK online sales.
In Sheffield, Dan and Perry are looking back on how the day went.
It wasn't as good a day as we were expecting.
Not everybody got the emails because of technical glitches.
The internet was just so busy with the messages that we've being pounded out.
That we had all these messages to deliver within a certain time and they just couldn't get through.
So it turned out to be a bit of a non-event.
But all is not lost.
Moving forward, Dan and his team will have to make sure December is not a turkey.
In Bradford, high street shoe store, Shoe Zone, stacks 'em high and sells 'em cheap.
As December gets underway, manager Jane and the team are going into one of the busiest times of the year.
That's 24.
96 altogether, please.
Most of what we're selling at the moment are presents.
I bet out of every three sales, one of them's slippers at this time of year.
It is big bucks.
Oh, I love these, they're lovely.
I like my spots, 7.
99.
And, actually, we're doing this massive offer at the moment, two for eight mix and match.
You can get a mans pair and a ladies pair for £8.
It's really good, good value.
Across the country, Shoe Zone will sell over half a million pairs of slippers in December.
How much altogether? - They're on offer.
It's two for eight.
- Yeah.
That's £5.
01.
There we are, thank you very much.
While Jane sells slippers out front, behind the scenes, shop assistant Leoni is also hard at work.
The sale's coming on for Boxing Day.
And that's Boxing Day's crazy.
I would say that we hold over 20,000 pairs of shoes, so it's kind of difficult to do it all on one day.
So we start prepping it pretty early.
So then it's done and it does get really busy on Boxing Day as well.
In the stock room, Leoni starts reducing the price of boots that are still selling at full price on the shop floor.
We start with this one.
So we get the right foot, ticket it with 50% off, write the card out, all ready.
So we're literally going to put them in the basket on Christmas Eve and the card in the top.
All right, so we've got them from 14.
99 to 7.
49.
When they shut up shop on Christmas Eve, the Shoe Zone team will have only an hour to create the biggest event of the year -- the Boxing Day sale.
It's such a pain for it to be Christmas time cos it gets so busy.
This is it, this is the thing about retail.
When everyone else is off it's our busiest time.
If they don't want to spend Christmas Day locked inside the shopping centre, they'll have to get everything prepared beforehand.
But can they get it all done in time? Lots of hard work, lots of stress.
In Bargain Fever Britain, stores all over the country have found ways to offer us discounted goods all year round.
Multi-billion pound global giant, Costco, has over 600 warehouses worldwide, but their profit margin is so small they never do a sale.
Get one of those as it's always nice in the freezer, isn't it? The store charges an annual membership fee, and the bulk of their business is traders buying wholesale.
But this close to Christmas, members have more personal business on their minds.
Fortunately I've got a bloomin' great big garage so I stock it up on the go.
In Surrey, some members are buying basics in bulk.
Now, you can't have this in your house and give an excuse for not brushing your teeth.
You know, no excuse, mouths shouldn't smell.
Other members are stocking up with festive delights.
With no sale coming up in January, Costco needs to make the most of our seasonal splurge on food and drink.
They're calling today a panic Saturday.
I think people are realising we're days away from Christmas and they're just stocking up ready for the festive season.
We've just coming shopping today for some Christmas drink really.
Yeah, it's really nice, really good quality stuff.
- We've got some fillet steak for dinner.
- Yeah, yummy.
Everybody says I look like the Grinch.
Cant see why.
- We'll have to paint you green and then you will.
- Yeah.
The store has brought in products especially for Christmas, like this cut price caviar.
I think it's really good value for money if you like caviar or if it's a special event.
If you want to show off to your friends.
- Shall I buy you some? - Yeah! Member, Monique, is snapping it up.
I'm going to go and get a pot of caviar.
I'm going to hide that at the back of the fridge because the kids are just gonna spoon it in, so that's definitely something for me, I think.
The caviar is kept in a fridge out back, and Luke's keeping an eye on it.
We've got the ice pack to keep it cool and then caviar's just in the fridge here.
Pop it in there, and give it back to the member.
Easy as.
There you are.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you very much.
It's the last Saturday before Christmas, and in the meat department, assistant manager Tom has more than just meat to keep his eye on.
It's going to be the busiest day of the year today.
Got seasonal products, whole turkeys.
You've got types of fresh fish, you've got lobster, crab claws and different sized prawns.
I just like watching little children's faces when they come to this cos sometimes it's the first time they've ever seen whole prawns.
Tom's been stocking up since 4 AM and has 500 turkeys.
But he has other meats to take care of today, too.
This building's 40% beef.
40% of meat sales is beef.
This time of year people like to spoil their selves a little bit more, so they treat their selves.
We'll be cutting a lot of these.
Costco sells well over a million pounds' worth of beef roasting joints in the run up to Christmas.
Tom and the Farnborough team could be in for a very busy day.
Better off going for a whole one or just the crown? I think the crown's less hassle.
Customer, Nikki, and her daughter, Georgia, have come in for some last minute essentials.
- Enough potatoes for you? - Enough potatoes.
- Are you sure? - Yeah, just need the turkey to go with the potatoes now.
From turf to surf, we're splurging on the luxuries in life.
We spent over £20 billion on food and drink in the run up to Christmas last year.
Tom wants to make sure that nobody's disappointed.
The worst thing that could happen is that we sold out of turkeys.
I wouldn't like to upset somebody's Christmas because we couldn't fulfil the stock.
Tom's birds are big, but are they big enough for Nikki's Christmas table? I need bigger than all of these.
- 6.
5? - No I need bigger than that.
Are they the biggest you've got? - The biggest we've got is probably six and a half.
- Is it? - That'll be the biggest.
- Well, bang goes the turkey, we've not got that! - Sorry about that.
- It's all right.
Ah, that's a sod, innit? I can't believe that.
With member Nikki disappointed, Tom's starting to worry if he'll have enough birds to get him through the day.
We Brits eat around 10 million turkeys at Christmas, and 60,000 of them will come from Costco.
Tom's stock is flying out the door.
The turkeys today were topped up 20, 30 times at least.
It's five kilogram birds, so it's like going to the gym.
I'm actually starting to panic that I might run out.
Three hours and four restocks later, Tom draws a sigh of relief.
It's nearing the end of the day.
It's good that we've not run out of turkeys.
The stock in the back is pretty low.
It should last me through until our next delivery on Monday.
So I'm really pleased about that.
Tired, but go home, get a couple of hours sleep, and start again tomorrow.
While many stores have their busiest time of year in December, it's a different story in the motor trade.
December is notoriously a hard month in all car sales.
It could be two or three customers you see a day.
You know, you've got to make sure that two or three customers you see now are ones you potentially gonna try and get them to have a car.
Motorpoint in Newport is a car supermarket.
Nearly new vehicles are sold at discounted prices.
It's in white.
Which I know was one of the preferences.
It's a popular store.
Nearly 600 cars are sold in a busy month like March.
But less than 400 are sold in December.
There's nothing more frustrating than staring into an empty space, but you can't sell a car to fresh air, so unless we've got the foot flow, we can't do anything else about it.
- You got nothing on the boil at the moment, no? - Nothing at all.
I've got one from yesterday hopefully calling back.
But that's about it really.
When footfall is low, it's even more crucial for the team to make sales.
Russell is making sure that that's what they're doing.
It's the tough time of the year, it's just all hands on deck.
Got to get stuck in, it's necessary, it's needed.
We can't just say it's Christmas and write the month off.
The salesman need to try and shift 24 cars each this month.
Ben's trying to generate interest calling previous customers.
My name's Ben.
I'm calling from Motorpoint in Newport.
How are you, are you OK? You all planned for Christmas now or you still got a bit to do? You've still got loads to do? It's just a quick courtesy call, we've got more stock at the moment down here at Motorpoint Newport, just to see if we can potentially arrange an appointment for you to come down and have a look at a few more.
Ok, fair enough, fair enough.
Well, I'll leave you to it.
After a couple of hours, Ben gets lucky and lands some interested customers -- Mike and Becca.
It's a really nice colour, it's called shark grey.
It's a low mileage, it's only done 5,000 miles, which is really good.
Mike's very savvy when it comes to looking at cars and getting his money's worth.
I'm not, I'm like a magpie.
I like anything shiny and anything new.
You're saving yourself a huge saving from the main dealer, £5,800.
While Ben tries his best to sell a car, Kyle's waiting for customers.
He got taken on permanently two months ago, and is still proving himself.
It is pretty tough.
This is the first December I've worked.
There's hardly no one coming in really.
Very, very nice.
One customer, Richard, has just come in with his brother.
He has a baby on the way and is looking to change vehicles.
Hi, Richard, you all right, mate? How you getting along? Good, thanks.
Richard's interested in a Ford Focus for just under £14,000.
Why this one more than the other one? - It's got more toys on it.
- Yeah, yeah, you like your toys.
- Looks a bit more sporty.
- You have got everything on it.
It is pretty important for me to seal the deal with this guy.
Hopefully, fingers crossed, he'll buy a car.
In Sheffield, budget brand, Approved Food, specialises in products mainstream stores can't sell.
It's mid-December and no one's buying advent calendars any more -- except Dan.
This is exactly where Approved Food, sort of like, steps up to the mark.
People love chocolate and whether it's wrapped in a nice tidy bar or whether it's in a bag, it's still in date.
The only thing out of date about him is that there's a number one on the front.
Like, it's just seasonally out of date.
And it still is value for money.
Dan's stock comes from wholesalers who haven't managed to sell their calendars to the shops in time.
He's buying them for 10-12 pence, and selling them at three for £1.
From now on in, we're getting people, you can almost hear that they've got their head in their hands as they're phoning up and saying, "What will you give me for these advent calendars?" In December, Dan's business slumps from 600 orders a day to just 300.
People are not really thinking now about cheap food and drink, they're thinking about, "Have we got everything in place for Auntie Joan coming round?" And all the rest of the things.
Today, Dan's off on a buying trip to look for unusual deals to tempt in these elusive December customers.
We're gonna be looking at things which are just a bit different.
We've got to strike the right deal and the key to the business is don't buy somebody else's problem.
We need to solve problems, not create them for ourselves.
- Hi, Dan.
- All right, fella? I'll tell you what I'm looking for.
Any sort of quirkiness.
Things that are just a bit different.
First up, some chocolates left over from Halloween.
This one I need a quick decision on.
27 pence.
Don't trick me on that one.
- How long's it been since Halloween? - I said don't trick me on it.
Seasonal products, not out of date yet.
Choc orange, right we'll have all them.
Also up Dan's street are unusual flavoured goods that some shops have had trouble selling.
- Have you ever sold melted cheese and bacon? - All the time.
Weird and wonderful, Dan comes in and just mops it all up for me and it's good for me and it's good for Dan.
John has saved his quirkiest product till last.
Mint chocolate Pringles.
That is the strangest tasting crisp I have ever had.
I've got absolutely no idea if people are going to buy these again or not.
I guess the test will be, at night, will I be craving one of these? Yeah, whatever you've got I'll clear those up.
33p.
That's around 500 tubes to you and me to add to Dan's shopping list.
- How much have I just spent, John? - About 12,000.
Ooh, lets hope I can sell it in time.
- If not, can I bring it back? Is that all right? - No.
- No.
In Bargain Fever Britain, December's a tricky time of year.
For some it's feast.
For others, famine.
We literally haven't seen no one for an hour or so now.
When we're splurging on presents, parties and turkeys, buying a car is the last thing on our minds.
Business is slow, but salesman Ben might be in a position to grab a rare December deal.
Customers Mike and Becca are very keen on a Citroen DS3.
It's a nice colour as well, isn't it.
Look at it, Mike.
See, magpie, magpie.
It's really, really nice.
You've got your auxiliary cable in there as well so you can plug, don't know if you've got an iPhone - or things like that, you can actually plug that into it as well.
Ok.
- What's this? - That's a key.
- Oh.
- All right? Happy, yeah? - What do you think, do you like it? - Yeah.
- Love it, don't you? - I was sold when I saw it.
Its economical, it looks nice and it's cheap to run so it's what everyone wants in this kind of climate.
It's really, really good, great choice.
Nice early Christmas present for you.
Look how happy you are.
Mike and Becca are snapping up the Citroen without even taking it for a test drive, so it's a fast sale for Ben.
All right, guys, after you.
They knew what car they wanted, they'd obviously done their shopping around.
They've narrowed it down to the Citroen DS3, it's exactly what they wanted.
She loved it, fell in love with it.
So it was a very, very easy sale.
Drive away in that nice, new car in an hour or so.
Across the forecourt, newbie salesman Kyle isn't having such good luck.
He's been helping customer Richard for over an hour now.
So, what would you like to do now? If possible I'd like to take it out for a test drive.
Go for a spin, is it? Yeah, no problem.
He's pulling out all the stops.
Do you want, erm, while we take your details, do you want a cup of tea or coffee? Or even a bacon sandwich? - A bacon sandwich? - Yeah, yeah! - Yeah, that'd be great.
- You want a bacon sandwich, do you? No problem.
There you are, mate.
Very nice, like.
It's free.
You can't go wrong with that, like, can you.
I'm not sure it would persuade me to buy the car, but it's a nice add on.
Richard might be delighted with the deli, but Kyle isn't convinced he'll seal the deal.
So, yeah, I'm not feeling so positive now.
He was really excited at the start, but them times are fading away.
We'll see, we'll go on a drive and he might love it.
- So, you excited? - Yeah, yeah, it looks good.
- Yeah? The test drive is Kyle's last chance to stoke Richard's interest and encourage a sale.
Right then.
Here we go.
What do you think of the drive, like? How does it feel? Yeah, it's not bumpy.
Probably good for me with a little nipper on the way.
- Have you seen the boot on the Focus? - Yeah, that's the main thing.
- Be ideal for your pram and stuff like that.
- Yeah.
If your missus does your head in you can chuck her in.
More like the other way round.
With the test drive over, it's the moment of truth.
Crunch time now then I suppose, do you want the car? - I'm not sure, to be honest.
- You're unsure? OK.
There's a couple of others on Auto Trader, I wanted to check those out as well.
OK, I hope you decide to go ahead with it, hope you like the car.
- Thanks for your help.
- And, yeah, enjoy your Christmas.
- You too, yeah.
- And if you're ever near you can pop in and give me a Christmas present or something.
Sounds good.
Richard's off to think it over, but for Kyle, it's not a deal today.
It's a bit like that, do you know what I mean, so it's all up in the air a little bit.
So I've got to make sure I work hard every day and make sure I do hit these targets.
It's almost Christmas, and Dan is worried about his advent calendar sales.
We've got about 3,000 left.
They're really starting to slow down, these advent calendar sales.
So now we've got to step them back up.
We've been at three for a quid.
It's time to move them up to something a bit more special.
Ideally, we want to be out of them by the end of the year.
Dan's decided to drop the price from three for £1 to five, and he's doing a video to spice up interest.
It's that honest market trader, stood there, this is what I've got for sale, this is the price, and you see if people engage.
- Now then, Perry lad.
You all right, fella? - Not bad, you? Right, great stuff.
Great, great, great.
Dan's enlisting the help of chief taster and online whizz, Perry.
Let's just get them blown out now.
We'll.
.
May as well do it now while they still want chocolate cos they'll not want chocolate in January, they'll be wanting to lose weight.
Yeah, that's right.
If we go five for a quid.
Do a video.
They're getting 120 chocolates then for a quid then, aren't they.
Well that's a good way of putting it, isn't it.
I think, what I'll do is, I'll go and grab the kids and I'll let them sell these ones to make it that bit more quirky.
Right, good stuff.
OK, pal.
Catch you in a bit.
Right then, you two rotters, are you ready to do some work? - Um, yeah.
- Right, onward.
Straight down, we're going down onto those aisles, OK.
Dan's keeping the PR in the family with sons Rudy and Jay.
Are you ready for it? Are you ready for it? That was the worst high five ever.
- What are we selling today? - Advent calendars.
- Advent callies.
How many advent calendars for a pound are we gonna be selling? - Five.
- Three.
- Have you read your lines? - No.
I can tell that.
Right, we're selling five advent calendars for a pound.
When I first started, there was a bloke who's just come from nowhere, who's asking people to buy out of date food.
You know, like, the fact that I'd put my face against it and say, "It's all right, buy this, it's gonna be good.
" You know, like, was a real key thing back at the start and that has just sort of grown with us, you know.
Here we are, we've got a special on advent calendars.
And to make it special we have got my two lads, Rudy and Jay.
Right, kids, what are we selling? We're selling five advent calendars for £1.
- Really? How many chocolates do you get in that? - 120.
120? Brilliant.
Right, Rudy, this is it, this is your big piece.
I want you to take it away, the full pitch, like the old man -- go for it.
Big deal, smash the like button.
Um, we've got advent calendars, five for £1.
That's 120 120 chocolates in just £1.
Is that it? Excellent video.
Five for a pound, they're not gonna be here for long.
Enjoy.
Brilliant, that one, lads.
Do you want to know how much you're getting paid for this? Absolutely nothing.
In fact, you owe me a pound for all the chocolates you've ate.
- Oh! - No! - Ah! I could be lumbered with thousands of advent calendars, but at least I can blame it on my kids.
It's Christmas Eve and, in Bradford, Jane and the Shoe Zone team are grabbing a quick five minutes of festive fun.
Merry Christmas, whose is the red one? - That's yours.
- Oh, is that mine? Oh! Are you going to open them? Mmmmm.
Bath salts and wine.
Relax, relax.
- Now that's a good combination.
- I told you.
Ah, yes, know him well.
Knows me very well, very well indeed.
Thank you.
- Merry Christmas, everybody.
- Merry Christmas.
Sorry, but we all have to go back out and work.
OK? Christmas Eve is one of the busiest days of the year at Shoe Zone.
Jane and the staff must get two jobs done today.
They'll be selling last minute Christmas presents and, later, they've got to get the shop ready for the Boxing Day sale before they leave.
All of this is sale -- customers don't know that yet.
Right, and as soon as it's dropped, we'll be ticketing like mad.
We've got to get the posters down, the baskets changed.
Gradually getting ready for our big sale which starts Boxing Day.
So we don't want to be here very late so we're trying to get as much done as possible.
I have worked every Christmas Eve, but it's all right.
I mean, it's worth it.
They haven't got much time.
The shopping centre closes at 17:00.
Jane needs to keep the shop open until 16:00.
If I've not gone back to my car, I'll be staying the night.
Sorry.
It's 16:00, and the last minute shoppers are still coming in.
You all sorted now with your last bits? Kind of, always running late year after year.
Ooh, it's always the same, always something last minute.
12 months to prepare for Christmas and we do the shopping until the last hour.
- Bye bye.
- Thank you.
Bye bye.
At quarter past four, the last customer leaves.
Jane shuts up shop and the team swings into action.
Do you want to put the boots out for me.
Are you going to see to this one? Two sale header cards.
50% nearest the top.
- Oh, so it's just them left on? - Yeah.
And put posters in the window now.
What I need you to do is the sticker on the end of the arm only.
Them, them, them.
It's five to five and, in the nick of time, they've done it.
They need a round of applause, I tell ya.
Now I'm going home now, I'll be wrapping presents, I've got vegetables to peel, a turkey to stuff, but it's different at home.
With a glass of wine in my hand I'll be quite happy.
In 36 hours, doors will open for the Boxing Day sale.
But has the team done enough to pull in Bradford's bargain-hungry army of shoppers? In Bargain Fever Britain, there's barely a break for Christmas and it's full speed ahead with the Boxing Day sales.
It's the 27th of December and, in Bradford, Shoe Zone manager Jane is already back at work.
Right, yeah, closed Christmas Eve and with a bat of an eye lid and we're back again.
In between it was some turkey and that's it.
For Christmas I only had one day off and that was Christmas Day.
I didn't really feel like I had a Christmas, but it's retail, you've gotta do what you've gotta do haven't you so We've done so much getting this sale ready, so fingers crossed we have a busy day.
In Britain last year, we spent £3 billion in the Boxing Day sales.
And Jane wants her share of the action.
14.
99, thank you.
We've got some fabulous boots half price.
Long ones and short ones.
Well worth it.
I'm getting these.
- Well they was - 20.
20.
And they're now £10.
Right bargain.
There you are, love.
9.
99, thank you.
4.
99.
Yeah, thank you.
The tills are filling up and the shelves are emptying.
I need someone to tidy up and someone to get those fill ups done as fast as you can, please.
The shoes must be restocked constantly.
And on a day like this, the restock list is long.
Oh, my God.
Everything we sell obviously comes on the print out.
I've got to go around the entire shelves, locate it, and then get it to Leoni for her to tag and put out onto the shop floor.
But working at such a frantic pace, it's tempting to cut a few corners.
Ah! Oh, sorry, Leoni, did that hit you? - That wasn't very nice, Nick.
- Hey? Well, I couldn't see you.
Do you know, I should hit him back.
Hey? Oh, that did, that broke my glasses nearly.
You did hit my glasses.
- Sorry.
- You can't get the staff, you know.
- Hey? - Are you OK? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
Leoni needs to replenish stock, but she can't until she's tidied up.
It is very full on at times.
It's just so stressful, people are dropping things on the floor and you just wanna But you can't.
Get ready to shut shop now.
It's gone half past five now.
Jane is hoping for a record breaking day to make the stress all worthwhile.
This is what we've sold today, 334 pairs.
And don't forget, that's a lot of selling and a lot of bargains there.
But the working day's not over yet.
Jane, somebody's written bum and poo in the shoe.
That's disgusting.
What little kid And some parent's just thought they're being quiet.
- Bum and poo.
- You child.
Many of us love a sale, but for mum of two and committed coupon shopper, Holly, saving money is a way of life.
She's taking advantage of the January sales to stockpile for next Christmas -- 11 months in advance.
Buying all the wrapping paper, all the presents.
Just getting everything done with so when Christmas comes around I don't have to stress at all.
She's snapping up cut price toys for next year's presents.
If someone hits you, you get an electric shock through the gun.
So it just makes it a bit more fun.
Especially if the child I buy this for puts it on their mum.
So I'm buying this, this is reduced form £10 to £3.
48.
- That is awesome.
- What is that? Star Wars! Look, they move! Holly might be strict with the pennies, but husband Callum has to be careful, too.
If I see something I like, I do want to buy it, but she controls the purse strings, so - He'll just buy anything.
- I know I would! Full price or not full price.
I had to train him.
When I first met him, not so good.
He actually doesn't ever buy me anything unless it's in the sale now.
I really wouldn't dare.
It'd be nice to go home with something and say, "Oh, yeah, I like that.
" But the consequences No, just not worth my time.
Never ever buy full price.
Never.
- Thanks a lot, take care.
- Thank you.
Thanks.
Holly's made a successful haul, but one item in particular has put a smile on her face.
Bargain of the day because this actually scanned up a lot cheaper than what it said.
Says £9 and it wasn't advertised on offer, but I absolutely love it cos I love anything vintage.
So I thought, "I have to get it.
" And it scanned through at £2.
75.
So, bargain of the day.
Back at home, Holly takes stock of her early bird hoard.
Wrapping paper.
These are normally about £2 a roll.
But I've got all these rolls, 12 rolls, for less than £2.
I've got these little wooden puzzles, these are normally £3 each.
They were reduced to a pound.
And I've got the Christmas tree which is normally £20 and I got that for £3.
I have people say to me, "You've done a fantastic job, you've saved so much money.
I wish I could be more like you.
" And then you'll get people, "Oh, you're the scrooge, you don't want to spend money at Christmas.
" While some may scoff, Holly's all set for Christmas 2015 and she's saved a fortune.
So all this, everything, including the presents, less than £20.
If I can make life easier at Christmas, it's a time where all families struggle, so I don't care what other people think to be honest with you.
I save money and it helps my family so I'm gonna do it.
The January sales are rich pickings for bargain hungry Brits.
But for year round discounters like Costco, a sale is impossible as their tiny profit margins would disappear.
Everything that comes into the store has to sell.
So it's critical they are ahead of the trends.
In early January that means cashing in on our guilty consciences.
So, what are you gonna do with all the weight management items? - What are we going to do with those? - What I'm thinking is putting that with the proteins on the back of centres with the fitness equipment.
You wanna go on diet after Christmas.
We eating very healthy.
Lots of vegetables, lots of fruit.
Someone told me I should take cod liver oil to help your joints, cos I'm quite crunchy.
In Surrey, manager Steve has got his healthy stock in, but given that most new year's resolutions are forgotten by February, the clock is ticking.
Steve's got less than two weeks to sell his healthier wares, perfect timing for an in-store promotion.
- Have you tried coconut water before? - No.
When you demo something it drives sales.
It's really nice, it naturally rehydrates you.
Perfect for anybody doing any sport or gyms.
- There you go, darling.
Ok.
- Thank you.
You're welcome.
See you later.
Peter's been working as a demonstrator for nearly two years.
I enjoy doing this job.
You know, I enjoy it.
You know, you come in, you have a smile, you get to meet different people daily.
But encouraging people's interest isn't always easy.
Would you guys like the try some coconut water today? Hi, guys, would you like to try some coconut water today? No problem, guys, you have a good day.
- What do you think? Not your cup of tea? - No.
So far it has actually been quite a slow day, everyone's all back at work so it's only the members that have got a day off that are gonna be popping in.
As the day progresses, the store gets busier, and Peter meets the members who are still trying to start the year with a health kick.
Do you like that one? Yeah? You want one of them ones then, sir? - Yeah.
Yeah, shall we? - Yeah? Oh, you can fit it underneath there? Would you like a case of those today? Yeah? - There we go, madam.
- Thank you.
- It's six of them, madam, yes? - Yeah.
Most of us drop our good intentions half way through January, but Steve's already 10 steps ahead.
The Easter eggs came in the week after Christmas.
We had a lot of comments from members saying, "Wow, what are we doing?" But we're in early, we're out early.
Just to clear them through.
While some are looking forward to Easter, for those who sell last season's food, January can only mean one thing.
You won't be able to buy, you know, mince pies in the supermarkets.
I've got thousands of them.
We'll continue to get that for a good two or three months yet.
In December, Dan bought a wide range of products to keep his customers interested.
Including a bunch of unusual tasting crisps.
They actually sold out within two weeks.
So we ended up, when we got offered more, actually buying, like, another 1,000.
And it was great.
He also bought rather a few advent calendars -- 26,000 to be precise -- and did a video to promote them.
Just have a look at the comments, things like this: "Not sure that the big lad knows what he's doing, but I'd buy owt off the little 'uns.
10 out of 10.
" The overall feeling is that all the comments liked the kids and didn't like me, but that's life isn't it.
In total we shifted 26,000 advent calendars that would have been otherwise destined for, I don't know where.
Along the way everyone got value for money.
It's now early January, and people are hungry for the car bargains to be had before the new registration comes in.
At Motorpoint in Newport, the lads are getting ready to cash in.
But first, it's time to crown 2014's salesman of the year.
Just wanted to say well done to Andy last year, you know, top salesman.
But as the first busy weekend of 2015 gets under way, top dog, Andy, is sharing the top spot.
Well done to Andy, Kyle, both on seven deals for the week.
Good start, yeah, but a lot of you need to buck your ideas up and have a good weekend.
Let's go out there, come on, lads.
It's a shock upset.
Newbie Kyle is level with top seller Andy this week.
It's an impressive start to the year.
Doing pretty well.
Considering how many sales guys here.
15 sales guys here and I'm second on the board for the week.
I think for the month as well actually.
By the middle of the day, Andy's sold three cars.
If he can keep up this pace he'll have no trouble retaining his crown.
This customer is looking at an Astra 1.
6 SRI.
I'm gonna to take her on a test drive in the Astra and with a bit of luck we'll have a deal.
Do you like it? Give me two seconds, I'll just go and get a trade plate.
It looks like Andy's about to nail another deal.
- Um, I don't like it.
- Really? - No.
- Fair enough.
No, in the nicest possible way.
The customer don't like, erm, don't like the drive of it.
She doesn't think its quick enough on acceleration so back to the drawing board, they're gonna have another look round.
This set back could ruin Andy's day.
I thought it was going to be a sale, yes, so while they're looking round I think I'm gonna go in there and just beat myself over the head with this for about five minutes and see what I'm pitching when they're ready.
Leah wants to try another car, so Andy gets ready for test drive number two.
This is a lot better.
Ticks all the boxes -- fuel economy, free tax.
- Right, so would you go for that one? - Yes.
- Yeah? - Yes.
It's not as simple as I'd like, it was close to three hours all in all.
But, yeah, as long as you have something at the end of it, it's been worth it.
Andy's competitor, Kyle, has had a few problems of his own today.
Yeah, to be honest with you, really, really mad day today.
I've sat so many people down, do you know what I mean, and I've only just, I've only just done a deal, like.
Kyle's only made one sale all day.
And Andy's back on top with a convincing victory.
I've sold six today, so in terms of a Saturday, well any day, its wicked really.
Right boys, very productive day today.
Well done.
So drinks on me down the New Inn if you fancy it, yeah.
We've had a very, very good start to January so hopefully this will set the seed for the rest of the year and it'll boom and we'll have another successful year coming up.
For Kyle, a successful 2015 means only one thing.
My goal now is to beat Andy.
Cos he's the best salesman here, you know, but that's my goal.
Smash Andy every month.
Bargain Fever Britain seems here to stay.
We no longer brag about fancy £5 coffees, we brag about how little we've paid.
Sometimes we save more, sometimes we save less, but we always save, so that's the main thing.
Free, cheap or just good value, the face of British retail is changing, and so is the pace.
No, we will always have sales.
We will always have sales.
It's just a constant cycle, just more coming in more going out, it's like Groundhog Day.
We enjoy our groundhog.
Bargain Fever has firmly taken root in Britain, so what's next? Right now I'm sending out about 50 to 60 orders a day to all over Germany.
It looks like all of Europe loves a bargain.