John Lewis hits £1bn milestone early

The group said it reached the milestone on a rolling 52-week basis. Sales through johnlewis.com soared 41 per cent to £959m in 2012.

John Lewis had expected online sales to reach the £1bn mark in 2014, but IT director Paul Coby said the group was seeing “an unprecedented pace of online growth”.

It is launching a new website to further build on its online success, having spent £40m and three years on the project.

The new website allows customers to build a “wish list” of products and includes a search history.

With online mobile access now accounting for over 25 per cent of traffic to johnlewis.com, the retailer has also revamped its mobile offer and plans to launch a new app later this year.

It is the latest retailer to highlight the shift towards online shopping. Last week Tesco said it is scrapping more than 100 planned UK store developments in order to focus on internet sales.