John Lewis said underlying sales, which strip out the impact of new stores, were up 7.3 per cent in the week to December 3 against the same week a year before.

Sales of electrical goods, women’s coats and Christmas hampers all soared. The store sold 10,000 Apple iPods during the week, 74 per cent more than a year before.

Meanwhile a survey by KPMG found that shoppers have spent 45 per cent of their Christmas present money and had increased the amount they intend to spend to £392 compared to the £333 found by a KPMG survey two weeks ago.

However SPSL, the shopper tracking agency, found that there were 4.2 per cent fewer shoppers out on the high street last week against the same week a year before.

Tim Denison, director of knowledge management for SPSL, said that the pace of Christmas shopping was building steadily but that people were leaving their shopping later. He said that 27 per cent of respondents to the survey had yet to start their Christmas shopping compared with 23 per cent the year before.

Women are changing their habits more dramatically than men, who have always left Christmas shopping to the last minute. Twenty-one per cent of women respondents said they had yet to start their shopping compared with 13 per cent a year before.

Retail insiders said November was a good month but that trading was still tough and being driven by discounting.

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