Ocado has reported a 14.8% increase in gross retail sales compared to last year for the 31 days of December 2014. It is due to post its preliminary results on 3 February.

Chief executive officer Tim Steiner said: “We continued the solid growth from Quarter 4 into the run up to Christmas. On our biggest day leading up to Christmas, sales were nearly £6m, up over 15% on the previous year. In the seven days up to Christmas, our CFCs processed nearly 40% more items for Ocado.com and Morrisons.com than over the same period last year, demonstrating the capabilities of our facilities.”

“Our focus remained on delivering the highest service levels at this very important time for customers, while offering the widest range at competitive prices.”