John Lewis sales rose 5.1% over "three peaks" of the Christmas period, the retailer has said.

Black Friday, Christmas and post-Christmas trading at John Lewis was boosted by online sales, which rose 21.4%, offsetting a fall in store sales.

Like-for-like sales at Waitrose, which is part of the same group, fell 1.4%.

John Lewis Partnership chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield told the BBC that "grocery is challenging".

However, he said: "We're pleased with our overall results, we think they'll be pretty much in line with the market."

He added that John Lewis' Black Friday sales had been "more heavily weighted towards online" than in previous years, and that its shops had not been as busy as on previous Black Fridays.

John Lewis sent out 18% more parcels than a year earlier in the Black Friday sales period - peaking at five parcels a second in its busiest hour, John Lewis Partnership said in a statement.

source: BBC News