By Will Smale BBC News Online business reporter

Christmas shoppers on London's main Oxford Street

While almost every high street store will insist that festive sales are going fantastically well, the real picture may be a lot more patchy.

According to retail analysts, overall the Christmas season is down on 2002 so far.

And while a few of the big names are strongly bucking the trend, many others are struggling.

The downturn is said to be affecting companies in all sectors, but clothing has been worst hit, analysts have said.

DVD-players

Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy looks like having an enjoyable Christmas

By contrast, the electronics market is performing strongly, driven by cut-price DVD-players, and the next generation of plasma or LCD televisions also becoming more affordable.

Bryan Roberts, analyst at M+M Planet Retail, said: "Not entirely brilliant is a nice summary of the retail sector at the moment.

"It is very patchy, with a marked disparity of performance."

With the clothing sector worst affected by the downturn, fellow analyst Conrad Rowland said this was evident by the number of stores bringing their sales forward.

The managing director of Retail Dynamics said: "Marks & Spencer has certainly brought forward the sales on their knitwear, and French Connection has said their sale will now start three for four days before Christmas.

Weather

"This does not itself mean they are doing badly, rather they would like to be doing better," said Mr Rowland, who says a lot of the blame can be levelled at the weather.

"I know the weather is an easy scapegoat, but for clothing retailers the weather really has been disastrous," he said.

"It wasn't cold enough, early enough. And now no one wants to buy winter clothing at Christmas, people are already looking towards the spring," said Mr Rowland.

Mr Roberts added that H&M had also served up poor trading figures.

Department store group John Lewis, which sells everything from clothes to electrical goods, kitchen wear and furnishings also reported a reduction in sales at the weekend, if very slight, down 0.3% in the week to 6 December, compared to last year.

By contrast, both Mr Roberts and Mr Rowland were in agreement that supermarket groups Tesco, Asda and Morrisons, were already enjoying a bumper festive period.

Acceptable

Mr Rowland said: "Tesco in particular has seriously got its act together. Its clothing range in particular is very, very acceptable for customers, so people are choosing to buy these items from them, rather than spending more at high street clothing store."

Yet following its disappointing summer and autumn, Sainsbury's may miss out again, Mr Roberts said.

"Sainsbury's has been whipping boy this year," he said.

Mr Roberts added: "The simple fact is a lot of shoppers still see it as more expensive and lacking in non-food items."

Returning to the electrical sector, Mr Rowland said retailers were thanking the massive reduction in the price of DVD-players over the last 12 months.

"DVD prices have completely fallen through the floor, making them very affordable," he said.

Treats

"It is also all about the delivery - the flexibility and performance of the product is so much better (than the video cassette)," said Mr Rowland.

"Demand for flat and plasma screen TVs is also very strong," he added.

"Demand is such that one manufacturer said it could afford a price rise, and that is absolutely unheard of." said Mr Rowland.

"But people are just thinking 'why not treat ourselves?"

Yet Mr Roberts believes there could still be good news yet for clothing retailers, as shoppers go on a last minute Christmas Eve shopping spree.

He said: "Christmas is happening later and later every year as customers wait for the bargains to appear.

"Shoppers are getting cleverer and cleverer."