One of Britain's top retailers, John Lewis reported on Friday a 17.1% rise in department store sales for the week up-to November 14, further backing the fact that the chain has had a brisk start to the Christmas season. The overall sales figures reported for the week, which include online sales and sales at Waitrose, Lewis's supermarket chain, as well, have been the highest that John Lewis has recorded in the year so far.

Sales at the retailer's department stores were ?72.0 Million for the week, a substantial rise of 15% from the ?61.5 Million figures reported for the same time last year. This has been the 9th consecutive week for which John Lewis has reported a growth in sales.

Director of Operational Development for the retailer, Andrew Murphy has been quick to share that most categories saw a double-digit sales increase for the period, and online sales had also hiked by “almost a half”. Sales at Waitrose, which is a 218-store supermarket chain, hiked by 20.6% to ?91.2 Million.

While the rapid week-on-week rise has been delightful news, experts are quick to warn that this might be a temporary hike due to the upcoming Holiday season and the retailer should be prepared for a drop once it is over.