Retailers reported that pre-Christmas sales had been poor, despite the unprecedented discounts offered in a desperate attempt to convince consumers to part with their cash on the high street.

The British Retail Consortium said that trading had “not been pretty” in the run-up to Christmas, raising fears that more stores would be forced to close in the new year.

The music retailer Zavvi became the latest chain to admit difficulties as it appointed administrators on Christmas Eve. It followed Whittards, the Officers Club and Woolworths, which have all been put up for sale in recent weeks.

The run-up to Christmas is traditionally a boom time for retailers, but early indications are that sales have fallen substantially below last year’s level.

Experian FootFall, a company that measures the number of shoppers entering each store, said that Christmas Eve numbers were down 4.3 per cent on last year.

This is an improvement on last week but suggests that there had not been as many last-minute shoppers as retailers hoped.

Stephen Robertson, director-general of the British Retail Consortium, said: “We’ll see the full December figures in a few weeks, but they won’t be pretty. Despite a last-minute surge, it’s becoming clear that overall this has been a poor Christmas for retailers, as struggling customers cut back and traded down.”

Zavvi, formerly the Virgin Mega-store chain, employs 3,400 people and is seeking a buyer for the business. Its 125 stores are expected to open today and offer big discounts as administrators try to sell remaining stock. However, not all retailers have struggled in the run-up to Christmas. The supermarket chain Waitrose said that December 23 was its busiest day ever.

The company said that it took £34.4 million on Tuesday, and in the seven days before Christmas sales were up 3.5 per cent compared with the same stores last year.

The supermarket said that it had sold 231,000 turkeys this Christmas, 34 million sprouts and more than 12 million mince pies.

Online retailers also appear to have bucked the downturn with sales up on last year. Hitwise UK, which tracks visits to websites, said that sales on December 21 had been 3.9 per cent higher than last year.

A number of retailers began their sales yesterday, in an attempt to attract online customers. More than £100 million was expected to have been spent yesterday as about five million shoppers took advantage of discounts of up to 50 per cent at stores such as Marks & Spencer.

Debenhams was cutting some prices by as much as 70 per cent, and Superdrug offered discounts of up to 90 per cent.

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