Your Ultimate Guide to Shopping the January Sales

Wooden shelves in a kitchen filled with eclectic plants, bowls, vases, lamps and glassware. On either side are brown cupboards, and in the foreground is a marble island with grey rattan chairs, and a silver faucet is seen to the bottom right hand corner.

(Image credit: Future)

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A to Z Sales
What to shop
How to Shop
How We Source Deals
FAQs

The start of a new year brings with it one of the best shopping moments in the calendar: the January sales. Whether you’re looking for new appliances or gadgets to help with those new year's resolutions, or want to refresh your home for the year ahead with some beautiful new decor, the January sales are a great time to shop.

From kitchenware and appliances to furniture and décor, home retailers roll out some of their deepest discounts of the year as they clear stock for the months ahead. It’s an ideal opportunity to save on everyday essentials – or to think ahead and snap up discounted holiday lights and wreaths for next Christmas.

Where to Shop − An Expert A to Z

What to Shop – A Few of Our Favorite Things

Explore some of our favorite top-rated products that we always look out for when a sale hits – from air fryers to coffee makers, vacuums and more.

How to Shop the January Sales

As shopping writers, we love a good bargain, but we'll never compromise quality for cost. Here are our expert dos and don'ts for shopping the January sales:

Do Your Research

Before you start to shop, stop and take stock of what you already have. I suggest make an inventory of items and appliances you already own: it's a good way to work out which pieces you actually use and which languish in the bottoms of drawers or at the back of the closet. As you make your list (and check it twice), you'll start to see gaps: these are the items and appliances you want, and might actually need.

If you're hoping for a deep discount from a particular store, then I suggest you sign up for their newsletter. As and when deals drop, you'll be the first to know.

Don’t Scroll Mindlessly

Use the 'sort' and 'filter' functions to narrow the search to products and brands you're actually interested in. I like to sort by some variant on 'best-rated' or 'best-selling', so you see the products with the best reviews.

Do Use Price-Tracking Tools

My personal favorite is Honey. In the run up to the New Year's sales, you can make a wish list of products from participating stores. Honey will send you an alert as and when deals and drop on your favorite products. You could save the same item across multiple stores and Honey will tell you where to shop to save the most money.

Don’t Shop Just for the Sake of It

It can be hard to tell the difference between a good deal and a low price on a poor product. Ask yourself whether you'd still buy this product at full price. Remember that the best deals apply to the items and appliances you'll use most often or that would spark the most joy in your home.

How We Source Deals

To compile this January sales page, I've consulted my team of eCommerce Editors. Each has our own specialism: Lydia covers kitchens; Dan does home tech; Charlotte covers all things chic decor and furniture, and Ottilie has the authority on mattresses and bedding. Together, we've got years of experience covering sales events. These are the best deals we've seen so far. We'll be sure to keep the page updated during January, just in case more deals drop.

Some of these products are tried and tested by a member of our expert team. Where relevant, I've included links to our full-length review to help you see past the price tag and learn more about a particular product. Where we haven't been able to get our hands on a product, we've scoured the specifications and read countless customer reviews to give you an accurate indication of how it works and who it suits.

FAQs

What Are January Sales?

It's a sales period that runs during the first few weeks of January. You can grab discounts on a range of homeware and appliances that will save you money as you start the New Year.

Retailers buy in lots of extra stock in the build-up to Christmas. This is so they don’t sell out of gifts in the busy holiday period. The days after Christmas, however, demand drops, and they’re left with a heap of unsold merchandise that costs a lot to store.

Retailers therefore drop their prices, shifting units for cheap to try to reduce their overheads while still making a profit. This means January is a great time to shop, because prices are lower than usual, saving you money.

Are the January Sales as Good as Black Friday?

There’s much less fanfare than Black Friday, but sales can be just as good, if not better. It depends on what you’re buying and where. As it's retailers' and brands' last chance to clear old stock, you'll often find lower prices now than during Black Friday, but there isn't always as many products on offer.

Read more of our shopping editors' expertise in our tried-and-tested guides to the best soundbars, the best coffee makers, the best vacuums, and the best mattress toppers.

Zara joined Homes & Gardens in February 2022 as a Content Editor. After studying English Literature at University, she worked as an Ecommerce Website Editor, Content Writer and Buying Intern at multiple independent businesses within the luxury retail and lifestyle sectors. Her role at Homes & Gardens unites her love, experience and passion for the world of design and desire to create inspiring written content. She enjoys nothing more than discovering new trends, brands and products, whether that be in fashion, interior design or lifestyle.

With contributions from

Charlotte OlbyStyle & Trends Editor
Dan FauziHome Tech Editor
Ottilie BlackhallSleep Editor
Lydia HaymanKitchen Editor