It's expected British retail sales will rise 1.9 percent over Christmas, bouncing back from last year's decline, according to new research.

The Centre for Retail Research forecast retail sales would rise 832 million pounds to 44.7 billion in the last six weeks of 2009.

The research, commissioned by shopping comparison Web site Kelkoo, predicted the rise in sales could result in up to 4,500 new jobs by January.

Much of the growth will be driven by online retail sales, which are forecast to rise 24 percent to 8.9 billion pounds and account for 20 pence in every one pound of spending.

Bruce Fair, managing director of Kelkoo UK said "The peak weeks of Christmas trading are vitally important to retailers as many earn up to 60 percent of their profits during this period".