Sales come early for shoppers

Sales have started early

Hundreds of London stores are slashing their prices today, amid fears of a Christmas disaster on the high street.

Just three weeks before Christmas, two of Britain's best-known chains - Marks & Spencer and WH Smith - are launching huge one-day sales.

Other shops, from upmarket shoe chain LK Bennett to music giant HMV, have already begun their winter sales.

The moves come after warnings from business analysts that retailers face their worst Christmas in a decade. Shoppers are leaving it later than ever to buy presents in the hope of picking up bargains. Others are doing their spending on the internet.

M&S, which describes its sale as "a one-day Christmas spectacular", is today knocking 20 per cent off thousands of lines. They include all women's clothing and toiletries and most men's and children's clothing, electrical goods and wine.

It comes less than three weeks after a similar one-day event, its first ever. M&S is also extending its opening hours today, with 18 s t o r e s , i n c l u d i n g Brent Cross, staying open as late as midnight. A further 14 will open until 11pm and the rest will close at 9 or 10pm.

W H Smith is dropping all its prices by 10 per cent from midday today.

At L K Bennett, prices are being cut by up to 40 per cent in its new "winter sale".

But the fashion chain denied the price cuts launched yesterday were in any way a panic measure. A spokeswoman said: "We have a winter sale and a summer sale like every other retailer." However, winter sales have always traditionally been after Christmas.

M&S also denied there was any panic. A spokeswoman said: "We are holding the spectacular to give our customers a treat in the run-up to Christmas. We held our first on 11 November and it was a success."

W H Smith and HMV both say their discount offers are regular occurrences, and were not a result of poor pre-Christmas trading.

Despite the companies' denials, retail experts say the unprecedented pre-Christmas discounting shows how sombre the mood is. David Southwell, of the British Retail Consortium, said: "Everyone in retail is very nervous about Christmas this year. It is the second year on the trot we have seen extreme competition and promotional activity.

"Everyone is waiting to see if a big retailer cracks and suddenly throws a panic sale. We won't know that until around 16 December.

"But if we get some lovely, crisp cold days next week, that could suddenly get everyone in the Christmas mood."

The promotions follow a dismal autumn, when mild weather and higher interest rates conspired to keep consumers away.

Experts say Christmas falling on a Saturday will lull shoppers into thinking they have more time to buy presents than they really do.

Retailers expected to have a good Christmas include Tesco, John Lewis and Next.

Editorial Comment: Page 13

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