UK retailers hope for last-minute sales rush before Christmas

Online stores take biggest hit as overall takings this weekend likely to be 4.5% down on last year

Retailers are hoping a last blast from Christmas shoppers will save their festive season, with Saturday expected to be one of the UK's biggest spending days of the year.

Almost 2.5bn is expected to be spent before Christmas Day over what some are calling the super weekend" - although that would be 4.5% down on last year and represent an even bigger fall in the volume of goods bought once inflation is taken into account.