Shoppers find their festive feet

WITH less than a fortnight to Christmas, consumers have at last started to spend, with many shopping centres enjoying their busiest weekend of the year so far.Earlier reports of a festive disaster look wide of the mark but analysts cautioned it will still be a nail-biting finish to the season, as shoppers leave the bulk of their purchases to the final few days.

David Smyth, business planning director at Footfall, said shoppers have been drawn in by tactical promotions, such as 20%-off days. However, although volumes may be up, margins will take a hit.

One victim of the widespread discounting could be Next. Although the fashion chain never discounts before Christmas, it is up against fierce promotional activity from competitors such as Marks & Spencer and Bhs. Numis analyst Iain McDonald has cut his price target for Next for the second time in a week, citing concerns that it is losing trade to the cost-cutters.

? Christmas spending is going well at luxury goods group Mulberry, which said like-for-like sales for the nine weeks to 27 November were up 13%. It made its first interim profit since floating in 1996 and said full-year figures will top City expectations. The profit for the six months to end-September was £17,000, against a loss last time of £615,000, and it now looks on course for a full-year figure of £900,000, comfortably ahead of analysts' expectations of £600,000.