Retailers are now staking everything on December, as the latest footfall figures reveal another disappointing performance in November.
The British Retail Consortium/Springboard footfall monitor shows that shopper numbers last month were 2.9% lower than a year ago, as they were in October too. And once again high streets reported the greatest fall, 4.2% - although that was against a fairly strong rate in 2012.

On a three-month basis, high streets reported their worst drop in footfall since August 2012.

Footfall in out-of-town locations and shopping centres fell 2.1% and 1.0% respectively, and all regions reported a decline.

Helen Dickinson, BRC director general, said: "This figure is in line with October, and tallies with recent signs in our sales data that festive spending has got off to a slow but steady start."

She said it seemed as though many consumers had been holding off on major shopping trips until December ushered in the final countdown to Christmas.

"These figures may seem subdued, but factors like enhanced multichannel offers and Christmas day falling on Wednesday this year are changing customer habits and giving people the confidence to leave much of their spending until later," she said.

"Clearly, there's still all to play for: footfall has been building since the end of November and I expect this to continue."