Zavvi and Whittards, the high street retailers, are expected to slash their prices tomorrow after entering into administration during a poor pre-Christmas trading season.

Zavvi, the music retailer, became the latest chain to put itself up for sale yesterday and administrators are expected to slash prices in an attempt to sell its stock. Whittards and the Officers Club have also gone into administration in the past couple of days as consumer spending has dried up on the high street.

Retailers had hoped that by offering unprecedented discounts they could encourage consumers to spend more but early indications are that pre-Christmas sales will be poor.

Experian Footfall, a company that measures the number of shoppers entering each store, said that Christmas Eve numbers were down 4.3 per cent on the same day last year.

This is an improvement on last week but suggests that the hoped for last-minute surge of shoppers has failed to materialise.

Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium, which represents large stores, said: “We’ll see the full December figures in a few weeks, but they won’t be pretty. Despite a last minute surge, it’s becoming clear that overall this has been a poor Christmas for retailers, as struggling customers cut back and traded down.”

Retailers are concerned that weak pre-Christmas sales figures could lead to an even worse January and February, which are normally quiet retail months.

Zavvi, formerly part of the Virgin Megastore chain, employs 3,400 people and is seeking a buyer for the business.

However, not all retailers have struggled in the run up to Christmas. Waitrose, the supermarket chain, said that December 23rd was its busiest ever day as consumers stocked up for Christmas Day. The company said that it took £34.4 million on the 23rd and in the seven days before Christmas sales were up 3.5 per cent compared with the same stores last year.

Online retailers also appear to have bucked the downturn with sales up on last year. Hitwise UK, which tracks visits to websites, said that sales on December 21st had been 3.9 per cent higher than last year.

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