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High street retailers are reportedly worried that Christmas sales could be the worst in four years. The latest British Retail Consortium reckons that takings on the high street fell 0.2% last month, which appears to confirm another study that points to lower Christmas spending. However, Interactive Media in Retail Group reckons that online shopping will rise by 63% this Christmas. The Internet retail body said its survey suggests that 18m shoppers will each spend around £220 this year buying Christmas presents online. It added that shoppers prefer online shopping because of the convenience. In truth no one quite knows how shopkeepers will fare over Christmas. Nevertheless, that should not stop investors from looking for investment bargains amongst the retailers. Tesco (LSE: TSCO), which has been gaining market share in non-food items, said low-price items such as kitchen equipment and cameras should be particularly successful over Christmas. It even expects to sell around 40,000 digital cameras, in addition to its booming sales of clothes and DVDs. Shares in Tesco, currently at 309p, have outperformed the market by some 10% this year, and it is not difficult to see why. Third-quarter revenues jumped 12%, and like-for-like sales in Britain, where it generates 80% of its revenue, grew 9.8%. Additionally, profits for this year look set to push past the £2b mark for the first time - annual profits are expected to rise 18% to £2.0b. At 16 times earnings for 2006, Tesco is not overly expensive for a fast-growing business. Its dividend yield of 2.6% is respectable. GUS (LSE: GUS), which generates 72% of its revenues from Argos Retail Group, is not too pricey either. The company owns over 550 Argos stores, and it is reckoned that two-thirds of UK homes have an Argos catalogue. Last month, GUS posted a 15% jump in underlying first-half profits to £406m, on sales that gained 8% to £3.7b. GUS said like-for-like sales at Argos rose 7% in the first half, with white goods and photographic equipment doing well. Profits at GUS, which also owns Homebase, are expected to come in at £934m this year, rising to £1,020m in 2006. Turnover is expected to grow 5% to £7.9b, marking a fifth year of rising revenues. At 877p, GUS is valued at 12 times 2006 profits, and the prospective yield is 3.6%.