Santa Claus is the patron saint of supply and demand.

Round the globe, production lines have been rolling all year... from the toy factories of China which makes 80% of the toys sold at Christmas, to the perfumeries and luxury goods manufacturers of France, the video game designers of Lara Croft in Derby, England to the manufacturers of must-have video games in Japan... to the Christmas tree plantations of Britain.

All of them are counting on us to spend extravagantly at Christmas.

Toy battle

The UK toy market is worth almost �2bn.

With half that expenditure coming in the few weeks before Christmas, manufacturers and retailers can't start early enough to beginning marketing their products.

In the sweltering heat of summer, world-famous toy shop Hamleys opens its doors to the media to watch manufacturers jostling to be the must-have Christmas toy.

But will Christmas shoppers like six-year olds Daniel, Matthew and Rebecca succumb to six months of targeted advertising and demand the right toy?

Will their Mum fall for the glossy perfume ads?

Will millions of us suddenly opt for fake Christmas trees?

These are quite literally, billion dollar global questions.

Marketing magic

Over 20,000 new toys are developed each year, but only a few hundred will make it onto the toy shop shelves, and maybe a few dozen will be hits.

To persuade them, UK children are exposed to 18,000 TV ads each year.

Successful companies can make massive sales.

The Pokemon craze saw 1000 product licences up for grabs from Nintendo. Totally sales were $18bn.

More than 22 billion Barbie dolls have been sold since its launch by Mattel.

But Barbie's rival, Sindy, developed by Hasbro, faces an uphill struggle in penetrating the crucial US market.

Global reach

But ironically, the production of toys is a global business, with the main centre in Asia, whose people do not even celebrate the Christmas holiday.

In China, a skilled workforce on a monthly wage equivalent to the price of a single toy manufactures almost 80 % of the toys sold at Christmas.

Toys are now designed in one continent (America), manufactured in another (Asia), and marketed in a third continent (Europe).

Playstation crisis

The marketing and creation of new toys and games also involves a global effort.

When Sony's new Playstation2 was launched just before last Christmas, it soon became clear that there were not enough in the shops.

A computer chip shortage in Asia was blamed.

And video games consoles needs games.

And the video games industry is now bigger than Hollywood.

The UK designed game Tomb Raider, starring Lara Croft sold 26 million copies, grossing $400m.

The Lara Croft character now helps sell other products from cars to Lucozade.

But the design team now has to struggle to create a new version of the game in time for the vital Christmas selling season.

The business of Christmas

Christmas has become vital to the global economy, and that has begun to outweigh its religious significance, especially for children.

The luxury goods market at Christmas is worth �35bn, while the music business sees 40% of annual sales at Christmas.

More than 70% of children associate Christmas with Santa Claus, and only 8% with Christ.

In 1647 Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans ordered the Mayor of London to tear down and burn decorations to stamp out all signs of Christmas frivolity.

But in the 19th century, America re-invented the holiday. A Philadelphia department store introduced Santa Claus - originally a 4th century monk, the patron saint of gifts - as a selling technique.

And the Christmas tree tradition came from Germany, through Queen Victoria's husband, who introduced it in 1847 to the UK.

Now 7m Christmas trees are sold the UK, worth �150m - and they are decorated with �200m in tinsel and baubles.

We also consume 60,000 tons of chocolate worth �600m, 200 million litres of soft drinks, and 10m turkeys.

Britain makes 2000 million crackers each year. To earn �60 a week, homeworkers make 1500 crackers at 4p each.

The components, however, are imported from China

Christmas has become the beating heart of a huge global industry.