Upmarket department stores are set to move their summer Sales forward in a bid to move to full-price autumn merchandise ahead of the lucrative pre-Ramadan shopping period.

Retailers such as Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols are among those expected to kick off their summer Sales in early June as a direct result of Ramadan falling two weeks earlier on August 11 or 12.

Middle Eastern shoppers are traditionally big buyers of full-priced stock, which has forced department stores to rethink stock clearance strategies to ensure they return to full-price trading in time for the pre-Ramadan influx of high-spending shoppers from the Middle East.

Last year Middle Eastern shoppers spent £200m in London’s West End in the six week run-up to Ramadan, according to the New West End Company.

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