British retailers are trying to hurry Christmas season along in the hope of boosting sales. Some high street retailers including WH Smith and Woolworths have already begun seasonal marketing to a certain degree, while others like Bhs have fully adopted the Christmas spirit. Waitrose is combining the promotion of Halloween and Christmas ranges and Next has already placed gift items next to its tills, although it has not launched into a fully-fledged marketing campaign yet.

Health and beauty chain Boots has gone as far as hanging tinselly mobiles, complete with mistletoe, from its ceilings. "We haven't gone over to playing Christmas music yet, and the ranges will get more 'Christmassy' as we go on," a Boots spokesperson told the FT. "We know that 40 percent of our loyalty card holders had done some Christmas shopping by the end of October last year, so we know there's a demand for it." The fact remains that many shoppers will once again leave their Christmas shopping to the last minute.