Tesco Direct saw sales increase by 50% during the six weeks to 9 January, the retailer has reported in its Christmas & New Year trading statement.

“Online sales were very strong in both food and non-food with total online sales growth approaching 20% in the six weeks,” says Tesco. “In grocery we delivered over 100 million items to almost 1.5 million customers in the run up to Christmas, with very good levels of availability. Tesco Direct had sales growth of over 50% with a strong performance in toys, TVs, games and entertainment (including digital downloads).”

Overall group sales grew 7.5% over the period. “It was a good Christmas for Tesco customers with some great offers in store and online and with Double Clubcard Points,” says the retailer. “Customers were looking for ways to treat themselves, with 35% more bottles of Champagne sold than last year and a strong performance from our Finest range. Non-food performance continued to strengthen with improving like-for-like sales, driven by particularly good growth in clothing, electricals and toys.”

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