Retailers are introducing earlier and bigger discounts in the hope of unleashing a wall of pent-up Christmas spending among shoppers.

After nearly three months of poor trading, shopkeepers are offering record discounts in the hope of bringing forward the levels of spending they anticipate when the January sales begin in earnest on Friday.

Experts expect that scores of businesses will collapse after Christmas, as rent demands become due for payment.

The financial downturn has resulted in a large increase in the number of consumers who say they will go bargain-hunting in the sales — from 38 per cent last year to 49 per cent this year — according to Halifax.

Spending in the sales will not offset a dire run-up to Christmas, however, nor will it help retailers to turn a profit, because of extensive discounting on the high street.

The number of shoppers shot up on Monday against the corresponding day last year, but analysts said that the rise was not enough to rescue what is possibly the worst festive season for shopkeepers in living memory.

Footfall, a measure of the number of shoppers going into stores, rose 13.6 per cent on Monday against last year, according to Experian. Analysts cautioned, however, that the last Monday before Christmas, to which it is compared, fell on Christmas Eve last year, by which time most consumers have already wrapped up their shopping.

Last week the numbers of shoppers was down by 11 per cent on average, the value of each transaction also slumped because of the discounting.

“It’s way too little, too late”, said Jonathan de Mello, director of retail consultancy at Experian. “It’s not going to be enough to address the problems the sector faces.”

Begbies Traynor, the restructuring specialists, estimated that up to 15 retailers would collapse by mid-January. PricewaterhouseCoopers said that a record 90 of Britain’s top 100 retailers were offering discounts. Last week the figure stood at 80, which itself was a record.

Andy Garbutt, the retail director at PwC, said: “We had to look hard to find retailers who weren’t on sale. Shoppers have never had it so good in the run-up to Christmas.

“Everywhere you look there is a sale on. There are more promotions going on than ever before and the discounting is unprecedented . . . showing how focused retailers are to hit their targets.”

High street sales have become commonplace. JJB Sports, the sportswear chain, has had a clearance sale since earlier this month to raise cash in the hope of placating its bankers.

Zavvi, the music and games store, which had to temporarily close its online business because of the failure of Woolworths’ music publishing arm, began its sale yesterday.

In the embattled DIY sector, which has suffered as a result of the housing downturn, both B&Q and Homebase will begin their sales on Christmas Eve. Even Tesco, the world’s third largest retailer, yesterday announced its biggest Boxing Day sale.

There were some signs that consumers were finally beginning to exhale after three months of tight spending. At the Trafford Centre, in Manchester, on Monday 176,000 people flooded through its doors, breaking the previous record of 149,000.

Justin Webb, a spokesman for the centre, said: “We’re expecting the biggest Boxing Day sale we’ve ever had. The shops are going to have to pull something out of the bag, because of the promotions we’ve already seen.”

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