goes to the wire
もうすぐクリスマスですね。その影響が拍車を掛け、イギリスでは、セールに注目が集まっています。
Christmas goes 'to the wire' on the high street.
Shoppers will have to wait until the final few days before Christmas for the biggest discounts, analysts say, as retailers take the battle for sales “right to the wire”.
With just ten shopping days to go until Christmas, high street shops have not cut their prices as much as they did this time last year.
Experts say that retail chains are holding back until next weekend before they launch deeper money-off promotions.
Analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the accountants, found that although more retailers than last year are currently on sale, the average amount of money-off being offered by shops is 36 per cent, down from 45 per cent in the same week last year.
Mark Hudson, retail and consumer consulting leader at PwC, said that shoppers are likely to see bigger discounts in the few days before Christmas, despite 69 per cent of shops already offering some form of discounts.
“The number of retailers running promotions suggests that there is now a base level of activity which is seen as necessary to be ‘in the game’ - however for now the depth of discounting may reflect retailers keeping their powder dry.
今回は見出しからgoes to the wireという表現を取り上げます。ところが、残念ながら手持ちの辞書には、goes to the wireという表現は見当たらず、代わりに（？）go down to the wireというフレーズが記載されていました。これは「最後の最後まで、どたん場まで」（『ジーニアス英和辞典 第３版』大修館）という意味です。
私も、販売業者がいつから商品の値段を下げ始め、消費者はいつその商品を買うのがベストなのか、といったタイミングを見定めたいと思います。買いすぎには注意したいですね。(Shou-VR*)
