Christmas shoppers on London's Oxford Street

While clothing stores have had a tough time, bumper sales for electrical goods retailers and supermarkets will push 2003's figures above 2002, they say.

Yet analysts said the rate of the sales growth should be down this year at 2%, compared to last year's 5% to 6%.

The warm autumn has been blamed for the reduced clothing sales, while digital goods have been this year's must have.

Best sellers

Items such as cut price DVD players, LED and plasma televisions, and Apple's i-Pod personal music player have been among the best sellers.

Despite all the talk of doom and gloom, this year hasn't actually been that bad Richard Parks, retail analyst

For the supermarkets, analysts say consumers appear to be spending more than ever on their food and drink, and predict excellent Christmas trading figures for the big players such as Tesco and Asda.

Bryan Roberts from analysts M+M Planet Retail, said: "Whether Christmas 2003 is good or bad depends on which sector you are talking about - it is pretty patchy out there.

"Electrical retailers and supermarkets seem to be doing very well, but some of the clothing retailers appear to be suffering," he said.

"You can tell this from some pretty steep reductions at stores such as Marks & Spencer and French Connection.

Excess

"They are going to have a lot of excess clothing to shift after Christmas."

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Mr Roberts added: "The warm autumn certainly didn't help, as it put people off buying winter clothing, but clothing retailing has always been problematic - if your most recent collection does not prove popular you are in trouble."

A spokeswoman for Marks & Spencer refused to comment, but French Connection said its Christmas trading had gone very well.

Richard Parks, retail analyst at Mintel, said the situation this year was much better than some reports.

"The media always likes to blow things out of proportion, but this Christmas hasn't been that bad," he said.

Last minute spree

"Yes clothing retailers appear to have struggled, but overall sales are still up on last year - we believe by around 2%.

"So while the rate of increase is down on 2002's 5% to 6% increase, it is still rising," he explained.

More than 18 million people in Britain are expected to rush to the High Street today for some last minute shopping, according to a survey by Sainsbury's Bank.

It estimates that spending on Christmas Eve will top �95m an hour.