Shop early for Christmas? It doesn't pay

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated: 03:12 EST, 19 October 2010

The supermarket shelves are already filling up with goodies to tempt early Christmas shoppers.

But while it may seem sensible to beat the rush, you could be paying more than twice as much as you would if you wait until December, research suggests.

In the run-up to Christmas itself fierce price wars usually mean that many products will be severely reduced or become part of special promotions.

According to the comparison website mySupermarket, prices for puddings and chocolates are far higher now than they usually have been in the December of previous years.

For example, Tesco is charging £6 for its 435g Christmas Collection of chocolates which could be had for just £2.75 last December, £2.93 the December before that and £2.49 in December 2007.

A 200g box of Cadbury's Milk Tray is, on average, currently being sold for £3.75 in the main supermarket chains, but over the past three years the price in December ranges between £2.34 and £2.99.

A 1kg tub of Quality Street is on sale for £10, but in the past two Decembers many chains sold two for that price.