Experts predict record Christmas spending of £85billion 

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Retailers are seeing a rush of early Christmas shoppers amid fears of shortages – with experts forecasting record spending of £85billion.

John Lewis brought forward the launch of its festive advert by one week after seeing an explosion in the number of early Christmas searches on its website.

And Marks & Spencer, which also aired its Christmas advert this week, has already sold out of puddings, large turkeys and Brussels sprouts online.

Meanwhile Currys and Amazon have already launched Black Friday deals offering savings of up to 70 per cent – well ahead of the event usually held on the last Friday of November.

Website VoucherCodes is forecasting record spending of £84.7billion ahead of December 25 – which would beat the pre-pandemic figure of £83.13billion in 2019.

The rush comes amid fears that supplies of toys, food and other items will be disrupted by logjams at UK ports and the ongoing HGV driver shortage.

One in eight adults has already started shopping for Christmas presents and food earlier than normal, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Susannah Streeter, an analyst at investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘It seems many [families] are desperate to avoid a Scrooge-like celebration this year.

‘So they are stocking up now, to ensure the table and tree are fully laden with treats.’