John Lewis is expected to confirm tomorrow that its sales last week (week commencing December 28) were up 30% on the same period last year.
It rounds off a great festive period for the department store chain, which broke its record for daily sales twice in the run up to Christmas.

It is thought that shoppers may have been out in force to make larger ticket purchases before the VAT rate returned to 17.5% on Friday.

However, the retailer, whose strapline is 'never knowingly undersold', has already confirmed that it will not be increasing prices to include the 2.5% rise immediately. In fact, February 1 is the first date on which it will consider a return to the 17.5% rate - a measure intended to keep the sales momentum going.