Boots’ UK website has crashed during the vital Christmas trading period after the retailer launched a pre-Christmas deal on its own-brand No7 gift set.

The health and beauty retailer’s website has buckled under the pressure of customer demand for its No7 gift set deal, which launched today and offers £149.50 worth of products for £38.

The website crashed in the morning of December 14 and remained down until 5pm that evening.

A notification on the website read: “We’ll be back soon. We’re really busy right now as so many of you are shopping our amazing deals. Please try again soon when you’ll be able to get more great offers.”

A spokeswoman for the retailer said: “We are sorry to say we are currently experiencing some technical issues on Boots.com. We really appreciate our customers’ patience as we work hard to get back up and running as quickly as possible. In the meantime, the amazing No7 Star Gift is also available in our stores across the UK.”

The retailer appointed former Dixons Carphone chief executive Seb James as its UK boss in January.