THERE’S a pub near The Herald office which has had a Christmas tree in one of its windows for several weeks now. If memory serves, it has been there since at least the start of October. At that time of year, a decorated tree could be viewed perhaps as a slyly ironic comment about the commercialisation of Christmas. In hindsight, it is just a tree that was put up remarkably early.

Across Glasgow city centre yesterday you could see shopping malls and retailers gearing up for the five-week Christmas period. Buchanan Galleries and John Lewis were cheerfully sparkly. Princes Square was resplendent in its festive finery; Fraser’s exterior and cavernous interior shimmered with cascades of lights. Speaking of Lewis, its Christmas advert featuring Buster the boxer has had 17.5 million views in 11 days on YouTube alone.

Shoppers will spend billions of pounds up to and over the Black Friday weekend, which starts a week today. Amazon reportedly shifted more than 7.4 million items on Black Friday last year. This year, they and Morrisons’s are among the retailers who have started their Black Friday sales early. Sales will get a further boost on November 28 - Cyber Monday.

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, says retailers taking part in Black Friday “have been working hard all year to prepare for a great offering to consumers”, with a sharper focus on getting deliveries from store to door, “so that customers can be confident they will receive their bargains and get great value as well.”

The latest retail research findings suggest that many shoppers have already started their High Street Christmas shopping to spread the cost. UK retail sales increased by 1.7 per cent on a like-for-like basis from October 2015, with strong sales in fashion and electronics. October sales in Scotland increased by 1.6% in real terms, the highest performance since last December.

“The five weeks leading up to Christmas are the most important trading period in the year for many retailers, and accounted for 13% of all retail spending in the UK last year,” adds Lonsdale. “The next few weeks will be particularly busy with gift-related shopping, while the focus in the final days before Christmas Day itself will largely be on festive fare purchases.

“Last year, shoppers spent £41 billion in the five weeks up to Christmas Day. With shop price inflation low and average pay growth continuing to outstrip inflation, consumers are set to benefit from some great deals on items such as clothing, beauty products, electrical goods, home entertainment and seasonal fare.”

Much has been made of the online aspect of retail, not just from behemoths like Amazon but from the growing number of physical retailers who have poured vast sums into creating customer-friendly websites.

Lonsdale says surveys show that online retail sales in the UK grew by 11.1% in the year to October and adds that “multichannel” retailers, whose customers can shop in-store, at home and on the move, will be best placed to capitalise on this crucial shopping period. “Crucial” is indeed the word.