Myer has suffered a horror start to the all-important Christmas trading period, revealing that sales in the first two weeks of December were down 5 per cent on last year.

In a second-quarter trading update released on Thursday, the department store said November trade had also been worse than expected, despite heavy investment in marketing and other measures to increase foot traffic.

The department store said November trade had been worse than expected. Credit:Peter Braig

Total sales in November were down 2.3 per cent compared with the same period in 2016, and down 1.8 per cent on a same-store basis.

Myer’s shares plunged on the announcement, finishing the day down 9.6 per cent at 65¢ - their lowest price since the company floated at $4.10 in 2009. The stock has shed 53 per cent of its value since January.