New research from PricewaterhouseCoopers show that 82 per cent of UK High Street retailers are now offering significant sales or reductions in an effort to get shoppers spending money in the run-up to Christmas.

Retail Bulletin reports that just 52 per cent of stores were running sales promotions one month ago. PricewaterhouseCooper’s retail director Andrew Garbutt stated:

“Shoppers have never had it so good in the run-up to Christmas. Everywhere you look on the High Street there is a sale on. There are more promotions going on than ever before and the discounting is unprecedented compared to previous years, showing how focused retailers are to hit their targets.”

The news comes after shopper numbers for last Saturday, the day many claimed would be the biggest shopping day of the Christmas period, were down 8.4 per cent on 2007. Sunday’s were down 9.4 per cent, according to Retail Week.

The amount of discounting is likely to increase in the hours that remain before Christmas day. Zavvi began a high profile ‘clearance’ sale yesterday, whilst the likes of B&Q and Homebase are set to begin their major New Year sales tomorrow.