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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/bargains-galore-as-sales-begin.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Vital store sales are beginning with retailers hoping brisk business will repair damage done by recent freezing temperatures and snow" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/min-bargains-galore-as-sales-begin.jpg" alt="Vital store sales are beginning with retailers hoping brisk business will repair damage done by recent freezing temperatures and snow"/></a></p>
<p>Vital store sales are beginning with retailers hoping brisk business will repair damage done by recent freezing temperatures and snow.</p>
<p>Shops are offering bargains galore in the expectation that consumers will take advantage ahead of the looming VAT increase.</p>
<p>However their hopes could be hit as temperatures remain low and a Tube strike will affect travel in the capital.</p>
<p>VAT rises to 20% on January 4 and a new report has warned that consumer spending is expected to drop by 0.5% or £354 million in the first quarter of next year, compared with the same time last year.</p>
<p>Fewer than one in five retailers (18%) plan to pass on the full increase to customers by the end of January, but 95% expect to within three months, the study from price comparison website Kelkoo and the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) found.</p>
<p>The rise from 17.5% will cost the average household almost £520 or £212 for every man, woman and child in the UK and raise £13 billion for the Treasury, the report forecasts.</p>
<p>Consumers will reduce their annual spending by £324 per person following the increase, with 50% claiming they will spend less throughout the year, a survey for the study found.</p>
<p>More than a third of consumers (36%) have been buying early to beat the increase and more than half (53%) claim they will reduce their spending by a quarter in January alone, the poll revealed.</p>
<p>Kelkoo marketing director Chris Simpson said: &#8220;Retailers are facing a difficult start to 2011 and while it is widely recognised that urgent action is required to plug the hole in the UK&#8217;s finances, it is imperative to avoid a sharp drop in consumer spending as it could derail the retail industry&#8217;s fragile recovery from the recession.&#8221;</p>
<p>It is thought Boxing Day spending online could top £300 million for the first time. Comparison website moneysupermarket.com said the UK is set to spend £323 million online in a single day &#8211; pointing out that the weather and the Tube strike is likely to see shoppers swap the high street for the internet.</p>
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