Christmas is starting tomorrow! (Or so says Amazon)

CHRISTMAS fever appears to get earlier every year – and now online giant Amazon has decided it begins tomorrow.

It is launching a massive 12-day sale culminating in Black Friday, when prices traditionally plunge for 24 hours in a shopping frenzy.

But while this is good news for shoppers, there were warnings last night that it could have a devastating effect on the High Street.

Details of all the price cuts in the sale are shrouded in secrecy to catch out competitors. But the Amazon site yesterday did reveal some knockdown items ‘for a taste of what is to come’.

These included a Vax vacuum cleaner advertised for £52 instead of £179.99 – a 70 per cent cut.

An EFOSHM fitness tracker was priced at £15.99, down from £118.99, slashing 87 per cent off the price.

A Tony and Guy hair straightening set was £24.99 instead of £90. And a pair of Bluedio wireless headphones was reduced to £24.99 from £69.99.

Last year, Black Friday marked Amazon’s busiest day in the UK, with 7.4 million items sold at a rate of about 86 per second. Now the company says it will offer double the number of deals compared to 2015.

Other retailers have shared their ambitious Black Friday plans – with Argos launching 13 days of bargains from Friday. Tesco plans price cuts from November 21 that will last until the end of the month.

Amazon was the first retailer to introduce Black Friday sales into the UK, in 2010. The tradition comes from America and is always the day after Thanksgiving.

Some traditional retailers yesterday warned the discounting bonanza has gone too far. One boss said Amazon’s latest event risks wiping out November’s profit. He added: ‘What can we do? The genie is out of the bottle and we have to participate.’

In 2013 and 2014, fights broke out in Asda and Tesco after some instore promotions ran out. However