There has been a competition between Department store House of Fraser and John Lewis. The store House of Fraser has overcome its rival John Lewis by posting an 8.5 per cent rise in primary sales during the festive period.

Before December, both House of Fraser and John Lewis had been performing powerfully and the Christmas sales resulted that department stores has been benefited from offering a "one-stop-shop" as the shopping trips of consumers were decreased in the cold weather.

Last week the terrible snow fall was the reason for profit warning as blamed by a number of listed retailers, from the maternity specialist Mothercare to the amusement and book retail group HMV.

In the UK and Ireland there are 61 stores of House of Fraser and for last five weeks to 8th January there has been a sales growth of 8.5 per cent while at John Lewis 7.6 per cent growth was registered over a similar period.

The chief executive of House of Fraser, John King has considered its performance as "great". This was the result of not only the retailer which was up against another record Christmas last year but also the severe weather conditions.