Sales rose at The Very Group in the seven weeks to 22 December but it wasn’t fashion that was the cause with the company on Thursday saying “toys, gifts & beauty and electrical categories drove strong Christmas trading in a very challenging market”.

Its Very UK division’s retail sales grew 3.4% year-on-year, supporting group retail sales growth of 2.1% and it was “consistently ahead of” the UK online non-food retail market, with the operation also seeing market share growth.

Toys, gifts & beauty rose 8.8% with electrical up 7.4% and games consoles and perfume being among the best-selling items (Marc Jacobs perfumes did particularly well).

But fashion & sports was down 3.9%, although the company saw good growth in premium fashion with a 14.7% jump. Meanwhile home was down 2.9%.

The company didn’t share specific figures for its Littlewoods and Very Ireland divisions but we have to assume that Littlewoods, at least, declined given that overall group sales were lower than the Very UK numbers.

CEO Lionel Desclée said: “Our team delivered a brilliant range of products, strong pricing, an engaging new marketing campaign, and an improved online experience to give families everything they needed this Christmas.

“As expected in the current economic climate, consumers were on the lookout for amazing deals. We served these to existing customers and plenty of new customers during Black Friday.

“Whilst we are pleased with these results, we also know that the year ahead will be challenging for all retailers. However, our operating model, which combines multi-category digital retail and flexible ways to pay, will remain resilient and continue to provide families with a one-stop-shop for everything they need.”