Panicked shoppers set to splurge £20m an HOUR on last-minute Christmas gifts this weekend

PANICKED shoppers are set to splurge around £20million an hour on last-minute Christmas gifts this weekend.

Their 11th-hour dash will have tills jingling to the tune of £3billion, experts reckon.

Some 28 per cent of people leave their shopping until the last minute, discount site VoucherCodes says.

So-called “Super Saturday” is set to be the busiest shopping day with 21.2million people forking out £1.53billion, 11.7 per cent more than last year.

As Christmas gets closer, more people hit the shops than buying online, amid fears of deliveries not arriving in time.

Some 15.6million people are expected to cram high streets across the country on Saturday, with stores ringing up a whopping £1.11billion compared to £420million spent online.

And on so-called “Stampede Sunday”, around 13.6million people will visit shops with £1.14billion spent in stores and £380million online.

Meanwhile supermarket bosses are braced for their busiest day on Monday as shoppers stock up on festive food.

Anita Naik, at vouchercodes.co.uk, said: “Brits — while being a little cautious — are set to sleigh the pre-Christmas sales this year as spending remains high in the week leading up to Christmas.”

The weekend is crucial for struggling stores, but weaker consumer confidence has seen a number of chains launch pre-Christmas discounts.

Retail brands M&Co, New Look and Quiz are already running 70 per cent off sale promotions.