M&S has vowed to phase in the duty throughout the whole of January rather than immediately landing shoppers with hefty price tags. Tesco will however freeze VAT on all non-food products until the end of its seasonal sale on January 25. The VAT on non-sale products will also be staggered throughout the month.

The retail sector, already overwhelmed by increasing commodity prices, is bracing itself for a hit to profit margins due to the tax increase. According to a British Retail Consortium spokesman, however, widespread spending on big ticket items such as homeware and electrical goods is expected this weekend.

As of today, the government will increase VAT from 17.5 percent to a massive 20 percent. The full force of the rise, however, is not expected to hit shoppers until spring when new lines begin to fill up the shelves.

Wednesday will see retailers release their Christmas trading statements which are expected to report a 3.3 percent drop in fourth quarter sales, according to analysts. Poor weather is being blamed on bad sales throughout December.

They’ve reported that as many as 12 million shoppers are believed to have hit the various style of retail experiences during the Boxing Day, December 26.

The actual number of Boxing Say shoppers has risen this year by nearly 20percent in companriason to last year, according to the retail consultancy firm Experian.

The jump in post-Christmas festive shoppers in th UK is believed to occur because of the return of the VAT rate of 17.5percent as of January 1st and also due to the fast that December 26th fell on a Saturday.

But those relatively good Christmas time shopping news comes amidst slightly gloomy expectations in terms of the retailers’ future for 2010 in Britain.

According to a poll carried out by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), High Streets in the UK are poised for more difficult times in the coming year.

The BRC claimed that 80percent of the retailers who were polled, said they were not expecting an improvement over 2009 for 2010, thus making the possibility of an economic recovery lead by the retail sector and consumers an improbable outcome at least for the next 12 months.

In a move to prompt consumers to purchase more and give a jolt to the British economy, Chancellor Alistair Darling revealed his pre-Budget report last year that the VAT would be cut to 15%.

Commissioned for the BBC TV show Money Box, a recent poll has indicated that 27% of people surveyed claimed they would do all the shopping they expected to do while the lower VAT was still in place and before its reestablishment to 17.5percent.