John Lewis sees strong Christmas

John Lewis said electrical goods led its strong festive sales

Department store group John Lewis has reported an 8% rise in sales during Christmas week, driven by MP3 players, televisions and other electrical goods.

The retailer said total spending across its outlets and website division hit £70.2m in the week to 29 December, compared with £65m a year earlier.

John Lewis added that sales at its online offering, johnlewis.com, had jumped 67.5% from a year ago.

Christmas sales at John Lewis' Waitrose supermarket chain were up 28.5%.

The business - which is run as a partnership owned by its staff - also added that its January sales had got off to a "fabulous start".

Bucking the trend?

The John Lewis figures are for overall sales rather than a like-for-like comparison, however it appears the retail group has had a more successful Christmas trading period than many other retailers.

On Thursday, the owner of Currys and PC World, DSG International, issued a profit warning, and fashion retailer Next saw same-store sales fall in the run-up to Christmas.

There was a further sign that consumers are beginning to rein in their spending on Friday from Land of Leather.

The sofa retailer said its profit for the current financial year would be "significantly" below last year's figure after a poor start to its January sale.