Christmas shopping has started early this year as consumers stock up ahead of the festive season amid warnings supply chain disruptions could mean empty shelves this December.
Marks & Spencer Group PLC said almost half of its customers expect to finish their Christmas shopping by the end of November, the BBC reported.
The retailer said many customers were shopping early and planning ahead, while nearly 40% were planning to do more to celebrate Christmas than prior to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
More than two thirds are planning to have a big family Christmas, it said.
A spokeswoman for John Lewis Group, which includes Waitrose, told the BBC that customers were "making plans and getting ready earlier than normal".
M&S and John Lewis both launched their Christmas adverts this week, slightly earlier than in previous years.
Footfall in shops was up 3.2% in October compared with the previous month, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). But the October figure was still 13.7% lower compared with two years ago, before the pandemic struck.
Steve Dresser, managing director of Grocery Insight, said consumers were shopping early due to uncertainty over possible shortages. He told the BBC that households could also be trying to spread the cost of Christmas as their finances are being squeezed by inflation, including higher energy prices.
He said if products become available very late in the Christmas season, it could mean that “large mark-downs will have to be applied, almost reducing it as it goes on the shelf", which would have a negative impact on retailers.
Research company GfK said consumer confidence fell in October because of concerns about the future of the UK economy.
The drop in consumer confidence comes amid fuel and food shortages" and "surging inflation squeezing household budgets", said Joe Staton, client strategy director GfK.