Sales of clothing through mail order hit £56.5m in December.

The figures was lower than that recorded in November when apparel sales through catalogues reached£59.9m according to GfK Retail.

One of the most notable trends in December was demand for items under£10. Sales of these items increased from a negligible amount to represent 6.3 per cent of outerwear clothing sales in December.

Home shopping groups have been moving much of their sales away from mail order to online which has lead to thousands of jobs being slashed in the home shopping sector.

Otto UK is currently under a consultation period for its 3,800 employees as it works to slim down its business.

Shop Direct Group last week also announced it was under consultation with over 1,000 staff at its Merseyside call centre which could be shut down