This week's big story: Winter warmers

With the cooler weather has come an increased interest in our winter clothing range, with women's own brand cashmere accessories +51% year on year and men's own brand knitwear +38% week on week. Women's dressing gowns were +23% year on year, with customers' wanting to stay snug at home away from the winter chill.

Weekly Trading update

A strong week of sales sees John Lewis in good shape in the run up to Christmas

After an all time record breaking week for the John Lewis brand last week, sales remained strong at £160.0m this week, +10.8% on last year. Trade from price matching competitors' events continued at the beginning of the week, with Sunday a significant day both in our shops and online. The week-on-week comparison at -10.6% reflects just how significant Black Friday has become in the UK.

Our shops remained busy with the top five performers including Poole +15.2%, Tamworth +14.2%, Chester +13.2%, Swindon +9.9% and Stratford +9.1% year on year. Online trade continued to build with sales +32.2% year on year. Traffic to johnlewis.com was particularly strong on Sunday between 8pm and 9pm at +30% week on week, with customers continuing to browse for great deals.

Fashion overall had a good week, +7.8% year on year. Handbags and accessories performed particularly well online on Sunday, up 27% year on year. With the cooler weather has come an increased interest in our winter clothing range, with women's own brand cashmere accessories +51% year on year and men's own brand knitwear +38% week on week. Women's dressing gowns were +23% year on year, with customers' wanting to stay snug at home away from the winter chill.

Our Home directorate saw sales increase +4.8% year on year. Getting prepared for the traditional Christmas dinner was front of mind for customers, with meat thermometers +37% and stainless steel roasting pans +39% year on year. Sales of perennial Christmas favourites such as Panettone are also on the up, with our Christmas gift food category +15% year on year.

Electricals continued its strong run at +20.6% year on year. The food preparation trend, including mixers and blenders, also played out in this directorate +15% year on year. It was a good week for Nespresso too, up 11% year on year, its second biggest week for sales.

Paula Nickolds, Buying and Brand Director, said: 'Another strong week of sales sees the business in good shape, with momentum building in the final weeks before Christmas.

'The cooler weather had a positive impact on sales of cashmere accessories up 51 per cent and Christmas dinner preparations were also evident, with customers investing in cookware and kitchen gadgets ahead of their festive feast. Looking ahead, our teams in our shops and online operations are ready for another busy week as we hit the first full week in December.'

All figures quoted are total sales including VAT

• 10.8% year on year increase
• -10.6% week on week increase
• £160m sterling total
• 32.2% year on year increase johnlewis.com

Week on week increases are percentage increase in sales value.

What Britain's buying this week

(year on year % increase)

• Women's own brand cashmere accessories +51%
• Stainless steel roasting pans +39%
• Christmas gift food +15%
• Food preparation +15%
• Nespresso coffee machines +11%