Desperate retailers are offering discounts of up to 70% on furniture and clothes as the sales season kicks off in earnest this weekend, but you can get even bigger discounts if you are clever.

The Office for National Statistics said last weekend that the warmest May on record pushed sales up 3.5% last month — the largest jump on record — but retailers dismissed the figures.

Sir Philip Green of Topshop said they were misleading, while Justin King of J Sainsbury said they excluded discounts. Both expect conditions to get tougher, shown by the heavy discounts on the high street.

Richard Dodd of the British Retail Consortium said: “Discounts offered at Christmas are still around, especially for bigger ticket items. It is fair to say that without the offers, sales figures would be going down.”

Dodd said that traditional sale periods had lost some of their appeal because of a new wave of shorter two to three-day offers as well as the number of online deals.

Guidelines stipulate retailers can offer a sale so long as they had higher prices for 28 consecutive days in the previous six months — potentially allowing for a sale every month.

Dodd said: “You are unlikely to benefit by waiting for the sales in the way consumers may have done in the past. It is better to keep an eye out for the best deals which could last only a day, either in store or through an online discount voucher.”

Earlier this month, a Sharp LCD TV costing £1,799 on the Sharp website, could be bought for £900 less using a voucher from sendmecashback.co.uk.

We look at some of the best deals either on the high street or through money saving websites.

FURNITURE

The summer sales in The Pier, M&S, Laura Ashley and House of Fraser are already in full swing while John Lewis is starting its clearance on Saturday.

Marks & Spencer is offering up to 30% off if you buy three or more items of furniture. An Abbey two-seater leather sofa for example, retailing at £1,699, would go for about £1,190.