British shoppers likely to spend £4.4bn less on non-essentials during Christmas period

The cost of living crisis means almost 60% of shoppers expect to cut back in retail's golden quarter'

British shoppers are expected to spend 4.4bn less on non-essentials - a fall of 22% - in the run-up to Christmas as a surge in the cost of living puts a squeeze on their spare cash.

Almost 60% of shoppers expect to cut back on non-food spending in the so-called golden quarter", or last three months of the year when most retailers book the majority of profits, according to research by Retail Economics with retail technology firm Metapack.