A surge in online growth for John Lewis has helped the company's gross sales hit £951.3 million over the six weeks leading up to and including 2nd January.

This figure records a sales increase of 6.9 per cent from the previous year, which were also up 5.1 per cent on a like-for-like basis.

Group chairman for John Lewis Sir Charlie Mayfield said: "Our performance reflects to a large extent the significant investment we have made in our distribution and IT capability."

He continued that although "trade was even more concentrated across a number of very busy shopping days, our operations performed especially well".

Waitrose's gross sales also recorded an uplift from the previous year as they were up 1.2 per cent, totalling a value of £859.8 million.

Adding further comment, Sir Charlie said: "This has been a strong Christmas trading period for the Partnership despite the non-food market seeing significant shifts in trade patterns and the grocery market continued to be challenging."