Marks & Spencer is pressing ahead with its second pre-Christmas one-day sale today — a “one-day Christmas spectacular” — news of which was first reported in The Times last Thursday.

Customers are being offered 20 per cent off all clothing, home and wine, both in store and online. M&S said yesterday that, in addition, customers would receive 20 per cent off Christmas cakes and puddings.

The company announced plans for extended opening hours at many of its stores “to allow as many shoppers as possible to take advantage”. Many branches will open early and will remain open until midnight.

Sir Stuart Rose, the chairman, said that the decision had followed the success of the last M&S one-day sale, on November 20. “Our last one-day Christmas spectacular went down really well with customers,” he said. “We know that people are feeling the pinch and we want to give them a helping hand in the run-up to Christmas.”

However, analysts have speculated that the sales, which come during the worst conditions seen on the high street in at least three years, are a sign of weakness, suggesting that M&S has too much stock, which it is trying to shift. As The Times reported last week, M&S is also widely expected to hold another 20 per cent discount day next Thursday.

The move comes as Debenhams, Britain's second-biggest department store chain, is holding a three-day sale offering discounts of up to 20 per cent. Debenhams, which ran a similar three-day promotion three weeks ago, launched the sale yesterday and it runs until Friday.

Experian, the market researcher, said this week that there was little evidence that aggressive discounting was boosting overall shopper numbers.

The moves from M&S and Debenhams will pile pressure on John Lewis. Weekly sales at its department stores, during the week in which M&S held its first one-day sale, were down 13.3 per cent on the previous year — sparking speculation that M&S had lured shoppers away from it.

John Lewis, Britain's biggest department store operator, has previously matched reductions by the likes of M&S by virtue of its long-standing “never knowingly undersold” pledge to customers.

M&S shares closed down 2½ p at 222¼p.

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