Six out of seven high street retailers at any one time have been enagaging in promotional activity in the run-up to Christmas this year, according to research by accountancy and consulting firm PwC.

Promotions available in the shop windows and on the online homepages of leading department and chain stores in November and December have been tracked by PwC for the last six years.

This year, an average of only 15% of retailers were not engaging in any promotional activity compared with 30% in 2015.

As last year, however, promotional activity appears to be primarily focused online, with nearly 90% of retailers’ websites featuring promotions during Black Friday week this year, compared with 74% in store.

David Beer, retail and consumer partner in the South East at PwC said: “High street retailers are having to adapt their promotions to the rise of online shopping.”