John Lewis reported a strong week with the weather and electricals sales playing in its favour.
Fashion also performed well with umbrellas and outerwear selling particularly well.
The department store group said that overall trading was good with total sales up 18.3% in the week to May 5 to £64.3m, despite the wet weather.
Electrical sales rose 47.2% helped by “innovative product launches in small and large electrical” as well as iPad sales.
Matt McCormack head of buying for menswear and sports at John Lewis said: “The weather continues to play a key role in what’s selling and what’s not.”
He added that although fashion sales were slower than in other areas, umbrellas and outwerwear were best sellers outselling more summer items such as sunglasses and sandals.
The retailer’s online channel continued to be a key growth area with trading up 61.1% on last year. Poole was the strongest performing store with Milton Keynes the laggard.
Waitrose sales were 6.8% higher than last year – a strong week against the comparison of a sunny bank holiday week in 2011.
The grocer said customers have been responding positively to the extension of its Tesco price match to 7,000 products excluding promotions.
Waitrose said it has shipped its biggest ever order to Japanese retailer Peacocks Stores, shipping a range of traditional British food and drink ahead of this summer’s British events.
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