Home was John Lewis's best sector in the run up to the New Year as it grabbed market share from rivals.

The chain saw like for like sales rise by 6.2% in the five weeks to 31 December, and by 9.3% in total to £596m. Compared with two years ago total sales were 19.1% higher whilst like for like sales grew by 14.4%.

Home was the chain's best performing sector with sales 13.6% higher, compared with 10.3% for fashion and 4% for electricals and home technology.

Online sales for the five weeks were 27.9% higher and online sales have now exceeded £600m for the year to date.

The fourth week of the period (18 December to 24 December) saw sales of £124.7m, up 32.7%, helped by an extra day's selling. The fifth week of the period (25 December to 31 December) saw sales of £101.3m, down 4.8%, compared to the week before the VAT increase on 1 January 2011.

'Sales during the four weeks to Christmas Eve were outstanding,' says Andy Street, John Lewis md. 'During that period we broke the record for our biggest week ever with a sterling total of £133.1m for the week ending 17 December. The first week of Clearance saw a very strong start, but against the pre-VAT increase week in 2010, it was always going to be a challenge to match sales, particularly with "big ticket" items.

'The strength of our online operation was very much in evidence during this key five week period, confirming our strength as a pre-eminent multi-channel retailer. Sales at johnlewis.com broke through the £600m milestone during December and our Click and Collect operation, giving customers the flexibility of buying online and collecting from 129 John Lewis and Waitrose branches, continued operating right up to Christmas Eve in John Lewis and saw a 90% increase in usage.'

The chain made no mention of how its price match promise had impacted on margins as it responded to discounting by rivals.

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