Discounting hits new high as retailers make deep cuts before a difficult 2017

With 11 days to go until Christmas, retail discounts currently average at 43% and are set to rise to 54% by Christmas Eve, a record high.
According to Deloitte, which analysed more than 300,000 products currently on sale, this represents the sixth year in a row that British consumers have been treated to a growth in pre-Christmas discounts. And it says the 43% average is 1.5 percentage points deeper than the same period last year.
It says a number of factors have contributed to deeper discounti