How Boxing Day differs from Black Friday
It's a clearance sale, and that's the whole difference. Black Friday is planned months ahead with stock bought in for it, and every shop moves on the same Friday. Whatever didn't sell gets cleared after Christmas: end-of-line models, dropped covers, showroom floor stock, sizes that sold badly.
So your choice is narrower and luck counts for more. In November you can usually find the exact model and size you'd shortlisted. Between Christmas and New Year you're shopping what's left, and whatever turns up is a one-off with nothing behind it.
Does it end on the 26th?
No. Boxing Day turns into the January mattress sales, often with the same stock and the same cuts behind a new banner, and by mid-January the mix tilts from clearance to current ranges. Knowing that should slow you down instead of speeding you up. Nothing you see on the 26th vanishes on the 27th unless the last one in your size has gone.
Boxing Day 2026 falls on Saturday 26 December
Your bank holiday doesn't. Christmas Day comes on a Friday that year, which pushes the Boxing Day holiday to Monday 28 December. That changes showroom hours and delivery slots. Prices don't move for it, but it's the sort of thing to check before you drive anywhere.
We watch this one from 17 December to 5 January, because the post-Christmas sale isn't a single day. Shops open early, run through the 26th, then carry on into the New Year under a new name. Our wider calendar shows how it sits against the rest of the year.
Does the sale start before Christmas?
For a lot of retailers, yes. They begin marking down in the week before Christmas. Order a mattress on the 20th and it can't reach you by the 25th anyway, so there's nothing left to protect. Adverts and the online sale both start on the 26th.
Range is what separates the pre-Christmas markdown from the Boxing Day one. More of the catalogue goes into the sale after Christmas than before it. By then you're also shopping next to everyone else who waited.
Who runs a Boxing Day sale
Showroom chains and department stores lead it, and direct brands join in with less to set them apart. The table above tracks them all. Bensons for Beds Boxing Day 2026 codes, once Bensons publishes any, appear in it alongside everyone else's, and each row links to that retailer's promo codes page if they have one.
Same direct-brand caveat here as anywhere. Which?'s price check caught several of them holding mattresses at a sale price for weeks on end. In 2024 the CMA's principles put it this way: a crossed-out figure has to have been charged for long enough beforehand to count. Brands that never come off sale can't meet that on 26 December any better than they do in June.
Buy on the 26th or hold for January?
Buy on the 26th if the exact mattress you want is in front of you, and hold only if it isn't. Stock settles it, not the date. Clearance and floor models exist in ones. Once yours sells, January has nothing behind it. Where a current range has been marked for the window, its cut normally lasts until the window shuts, so there's nothing to gain by rushing one of those.
One group this page can't help. If you're replacing a mattress for someone arriving over Christmas, I'd buy before the sale opens and pay the difference. A cheaper bed booked between Christmas and New Year can still be a bed that arrives after your visitor has gone home.
What should you check on a post-Christmas deal?
Start with what happens if you've got it wrong. Return windows and sleep trials run from delivery, so a bed arriving on 12 January gives you until spring to change your mind. A bed collected off a showroom floor on the 26th may be sold as seen, with no trial at all. Clearance stock is where that difference bites.
After that, the ordinary checks. Whether your code excludes clearance, which most do. Whether the mattress is a current model or a run-out, since a dropped model can be excellent value but can't be matched later if you ever need a second one. And your delivery date in writing, not the estimate on the product page.
Why some rows sit empty
Until a retailer announces something, its row here stays empty. Dates, our price records and the full method are written up once on the calendar page.
Sources
- GOV.UK, UK bank holidays, including the substitute day that follows a weekend Boxing Day. https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays
- Which?, February 2024 investigation into how long mattress offers run. https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/which-urges-popular-mattress-companies-to-play-by-the-rules-aeIV45u7pHws
- CMA, the duration requirement in its pricing principles for online mattress sellers, published 1 August 2024 and withdrawn on 30 July 2026 pending a judgment. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/discount-and-reference-pricing-principles-selling-mattresses-online
Boxing Day questions
When do Boxing Day mattress deals start in the UK?
Most shops start their markdowns in the week before Christmas, and online sales open properly on 26 December. Our window covers 17 December to 5 January so that both halves are caught. Cards fill from whatever date each retailer publishes, so a quiet 18th only means the retailers haven't started yet.
Is it cheaper on Boxing Day than Black Friday?
Neither is reliably cheaper, and stock is what separates them. If you know exactly which mattress and size you want, shop in November, while retailers still carry the full range. Boxing Day is for people happy to take whatever's left, and that leftover stock is where the one-off prices live.
Which retailers take part in the Boxing Day sale?
Bed specialists and department stores run the biggest ones, with the direct brands running smaller offers alongside. Who has a code open changes through the window, since offers open and close on their own dates, so a retailer with nothing on the 20th can have a code by the 27th. Look again after the 26th before writing anyone off, and open a retailer's promo codes page to see codes that were never tagged to Boxing Day at all.
Is a showroom clearance mattress covered by a sleep trial?
Not always. Sleep trials and return windows normally run from delivery, but a floor model you collect yourself can be sold as seen, with the discount standing in for the trial. Ask before you pay, because the answer changes what the price is buying you. And there's a gap between a run-out model you can't return and a current one you can.
Can I get finance on a Boxing Day mattress?
Usually, at the larger retailers, once you clear a minimum order value and pass a credit check. The detail worth chasing is whether interest-free credit applies to sale-priced items, since some retailers restrict finance to full-price orders and carve clearance stock out entirely. Current terms sit on each retailer's promo page, because they change on their own timetable.
What happens to delivery over the Christmas week?
Slots are limited between Christmas and the New Year. The date you're quoted at checkout is an estimate until the retailer confirms it. It costs you more here than in any other window, because a Boxing Day order is often replacing a bed that's already past it. Get the delivery date in writing before you commit, and treat the product page's estimate as a starting point.
