Putting this year’s Black Friday deals extravaganza to one side momentarily, it’s a date that marks one month until Christmas – a time when retailers assess festive spending to date and ramp up efforts to secure sales before Santa’s sleigh dashes through the snow.

Just in case we didn’t know it before, noises from across the industry this week have only served to emphasise that retailers, much like Mr Claus, are in for a bumpy ride this Christmas.