Over the Christmas weekend, traditionally a quiet time for retailers, shoppers have been flocking to the High Street this year, mainly on the back of the many sales that are still being offered by retail store owners. Official figures have revealed that the number of shoppers this year has exceeded the number recorded for last year by a huge margin.

Another reason for the shoppers' enthusiasm is the impending rise in VAT, which is set to go back to 17.5% from 15%.

The amount of shoppers who were out picking up goodies on Sunday, December 27, was 17.9% more than the same Sunday during the previous year, as has been confirmed by Experian, a research firm that measures footfall.

On Boxing Day as well, the number of shoppers was up by 18.5% as compared to last year.

"The positive increase of 17.92% this Sunday compared to the same Sunday last year can be seen as exceptional, given that the pre-Christmas build-up performance was a lot slower paced. Worryingly, the recent surge of shoppers could be short-lived as we are now only days away from the imminent VAT increase on 1 January 2010 and sales which would have been made in 2010 are happening now, already bringing forward next year's sales", said Anita Sharma Manan, analyst at Experian.

Despite the high sales figures, shares of retailers have managed to fall slightly.