This has been a challenging year on the high street for shops and restaurants as consumers have reined in their spending, switched to buying on the internet and prioritised spending on leisure and holidays. At the same time, business rates have soared in some locations and the minimum wage rates paid to many shop workers have gone up by more than the rate of inflation.

Asos – the biggest UK online-only fashion retailer – issued a shock profit warning just before Christmas. Its chief executive, Nick Beighton, said: “In fashion we are seeing an unprecedented level of discounting, certainly something I have not seen before, and that’s across the board.” Asos had knocked 20% off everything on Black Friday – but others offered bigger reductions. Neil Wilson, an analyst at Markets.com, said: “If Asos is finding it tough out there, then just about every retailer has a problem.

A week earlier the Sports Direct billionaire Mike Ashley said November sales had been “the worst on record, unbelievably bad”. He added: “No one could have budgeted for that. Retailers just cannot take that kind of November. It will literally smash them to pieces.” Just a few days before Ashley had told a committee of MPs that the internet was “killing the high street”.

The womenswear chain Bonmarché also issued a stark profits warning before Christmas, blaming the “unprecedented” trading conditions that had affected the UK high street. Its chief executive, Helen Connolly, said that trading was “significantly worse even than during the recession of 2008-09”. Its shares crashed by 40%.

Primark – usually the most resilient of UK fashion store chains – has also been hit. It warned earlier this month that trading was “challenging, in a tough retail market”. Wilson said: “If Primark is struggling, what chance does the rest of the high street have?”

Retail experts are expecting gloomy news from a number of retailers over the coming weeks as they reveal their Christmas trading updates. Marks & Spencer, Next, Debenhams are all expected to have underperformed.

The updates will follow a difficult year for high street chains, with Toys R Us, Maplin and Poundworld among the first casualties of 2018. Their demise cost 10,000 jobs.

House of Fraser collapsed into administration in August and was bought by Ashley for £90m. But its problems are not over: the future of 37 of the 59 stores is still uncertain and Ashley revealed before Christmas that the chain had lost £30m in the first three months of his ownership.

The British Retail Consortium has estimated that about 85,000 retail jobs have been lost this year.

A number of struggling retailers and restaurateurs, including New Look, Mothercare, Carpetright, Byron, Jamie’s Italian, Carluccio’s, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Prezzo, have resorted to company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) to close hundreds of outlets and lay off staff. A CVA is a form of insolvency that enables businesses to renegotiate deals with their creditors – mainly landlords being asked to accept lower rent payments for stores.

Sir Stuart Rose, a former chief executive of Marks & Spencer who is now chairman of Ocado, reckons next year will be just as tough. He told ITV News: “Why would it get any better? I can see no reason why it will get any easier. Somebody will have an accident next year, definitely.”