Enthusiastic shoppers helped John Lewis break a raft of sales records over the Christmas period, the department store retailer said today.
Publishing its trading update for the five weeks to December 29, John Lewis said total sales were £684.8m - 14.8% up on last year, while like-for-like sales were up 13.0%. And, when compared with two years ago, total sales rose 25.5% and like-for-likes 20.1%.

The fourth week of the period, to Saturday December 22, saw record sales of £157.8m, up 26.5% on 2011 and breaking through the £150m barrier for the first time.

Home department sales were the least robust over the five weeks, up just 6.2%, while Electricals and Home Technology put on 30.9% and Fashion and Beauty 10.4%.

The major star, though, was online sales, which leapt 44.3% year-on-year over the period. Online Clearance, which began at 5pm on Christmas Eve, started with a record hour, with orders up 70% on last year. Johnlewis.com now accounts for a quarter of the total John Lewis business.

Clearance started in-store on December 27, with first-day sales of £31.7m again breaking records.

The retailer said more customers than ever before chose to shop on johnlewis.com on Christmas Day. The site saw visitor numbers up by 24% and sales up 40% on last year. Whilst traffic dipped between 1pm and 4pm as people ate their Christmas lunch and watched the Queen's speech, sales peaked at 9pm-10pm.